Smart Design for Residential Spaces

While most clients want to create a home that is unique to them, new trends in residential design are always emerging. Our homes reflect new patterns in the way we live, as well as our changing aspirations and desires.

Architects tasked with meeting these preferences often have a tricky role, balancing opposing demands for light, space, and privacy. In this article, we examine how smart glass can help those creating the most exciting interiors to keep pace with current demands.

Below are some of the key trends in residential design that are currently shaping interior design – as well as the smart and practical solutions that will ensure your clients fall in love with their home.

1. Expanding Open Plan Spaces

The move towards open plan living continues apace with an emphasis on connectivity and interaction within the home. Communal areas can make a home seem more welcoming with spacious shared areas that are used by the whole family.

As the world adjusts to life in the wake of the pandemic, our residential spaces have become ever more important. With an increase in home working and an emphasis on quality time with loved ones, open plan interiors are certainly on the rise.

Where shared space threatens privacy however, Smart Glass can provide a solution. This innovative technology is suitable for use in all residential spaces that require instant privacy while continuing to allow natural light to flood a space for the ultimate open plan feel.

Take a look at this modern-style loft in Newcastle Upon Tyne which provides a stylish example of open plan design. The unique living space boasts an airy aesthetic with a double-height ceiling and balcony leading to a spacious bedroom.

Thanks to the non-traditional shape and location of this interior window, privacy was a priority, however curtains and blinds would detract from the open plan feel. Privacy Smart Glass delivered the perfect solution, providing on-demand privacy at the flick of a switch when required.

2. Playing With Light

Light has always been a vital element of interior design but with the advent of increasingly sophisticated glass technology, glass walls and floor-to-ceiling windows are growing in popularity.

Not only does this increase the amount of light flooding a property for a spacious look and feel to any interior, it also affords great views of the surrounding environment. Whether that’s rolling hills and beautiful countryside or stunning city scapes, clients are always keen to enjoy the view.

Switchable Smart Glass facilitates this trend, delivering large panes of glass that can transform instantly from transparent to opaque for instant privacy. The advanced polymer dispersed liquid crystal housed in each pane is activated by a small electrical current, ensuring the glass becomes opaque in less than 0.1 seconds.

For expansive, light-filled environments without the clutter of curtains or blinds, Privacy Smart Glass is the perfect solution. And for the ultimate in design flexibility, clients can also opt for colour tinted, curved, or shaped privacy glass – ensuring dynamic designs that are also fit for purpose.

But what about interiors where excess light is causing problems? In sleeping quarters or cinema rooms, switchable Blackout Smartglass is the ideal technology.

Blackout Smartglass offers four distinct states: clear, opaque, solar (tinted) and blackout. It is designed to block over 99% of light transmission and offers 100% UV protection, providing total privacy and complete darkness with the flick of a switch.

As this property in central London demonstrates, blackout glass can provide an innovative solution. When the developer noticed that a central window let light into one of the bedrooms they were concerned this would hinder sleep for inhabitants. Blackout Smartglass delivered total darkness on demand while retaining natural light in the property and without spoiling the room’s simple aesthetic.

3. Creating Quiet Spaces

Whether it’s a traditional library, a meditation room or a yoga studio, more and more clients are looking to create quiet, calm zones within their home, free of clutter and mess.In interior spaces, this often dictates clean lines and simple designs with minimal furniture and no fussy furnishings such as curtains or blinds.

From an architectural perspective, quiet spaces can also be a way to utilise unoccupied space in a complex plan. With innovative design, these areas can become exciting spaces, often featuring interesting elements such as sky lanterns, skylights, internal courtyards, and indoor gardens.

This private villa in Saudi Arabia offers a perfect example of high-end design with a bespoke smart glass installation built to highlight a luxurious garden pavilion. The resulting smart glass panels ensure the client has continuous enjoyment of an elaborate water feature whilst still offering total privacy when required, along with triple glazing for full protection in the exacting Saudi climate.

A dedicated switching mechanism provides a seamless transition from transparent to opaque and for the ultimate in clutter free design, the transformation can be triggered via a range of remote controls, movement sensors, light sensors or timers, all tailored to the user’s individual needs.

As these three simple trends illustrate – residential design can be challenging. No two clients are alike, but the difficulty of creating spaces that inspire and soothe is familiar to every designer.

To help you fulfil even the most demanding clients’ design aspirations, Smartglass International offers a hands-on service and professional advice to overcome any architectural challenges along the way. By partnering closely with clients and approved third-parties, Smartglass ensures that each installation is tailored to the specific design requirements of the end user.

With competitive pricing, a superior product, and a quick turnaround, this responsive approach ensures Smartglass is an internationally renowned leader in switchable glass solutions for residential spaces.

Contact the Smartglass team today to discuss how switchable glass technology could transform your latest development.