VISION 48 — LIGHT HOUSE
One of the tests for architecture is that it doesn’t have
to be grand but it should at least feel generous.
What makes the house feel generous is the full height
glass that brings in the outdoor space with eaves that
read as part of the room. And that it’s all very seamlessly
connected to the garden. When I’ve been there with
four people sitting in the kitchen, it feels quite intimate.
But also there would have been 80 people there for
the open day and it can handle it because of that easy
expansion into the outdoors which becomes part of
that space when it needs to.
Do you consider it a design that utilises glass more
progressively and ambitiously than the typical
project build?
There’s a BASIX certificate which every new house has
to meet for thermal performance. The easiest way of
getting through is just to have very small windows and
that’s not something that I find appealing in a house.
In order to have a lot of glass, that glass has to perform
very, very well. It’s only because of products like those
of Viridian that we can now do a design like that in a
mass produced project home.
What’s your impression of Viridian’s LightBridge™ with
its high light transmission and thermal performance?
Products like LightBridge™ are fantastic. It’s very easy
to do grey or green glass and have a lot of it, but here
you have clear glass you really don’t notice – and it’s
high performance glass yet looks exactly the same
as any other clear glass product.
“What makes the ho
is the full height gla
outdoor space with
part of the room. A
seamlessly connec
MADELEINE BLANCHFIELD, ARCHITECT