“New Yorkers may be burnt out on glass buildings,” architect James Carpenter said in a recent New York Times article. With over more than 30 years as a glass artist, he is now more focused on using the material not as mere enclosure, but as a tool for manipulating light.
The debate still rages on whether masses of glass are the best way to live in a city like New York where privacy issues are a much greater concern than in the suburbs. With large masses of glass come issues such as energy efficiency, privacy and furniture/art placement.
“I think the future holds a compromise between large expanses of glass mixed with equally large spaces of wall space,” says Leonard Steinberg head of the LUXURYLOFT team and a managing director of Prudential Douglas Elliman. ” We have repeatedly heard from owners of all-glass apartments that placing furniture and art becomes highly restrictive, not to mention the challenges of heating and cooling.” The concept of living with large expanses of glass in a city like New York that experiences long, dark winters has become more popular with city dwellers craving light.
Luxury real estate buyers seek light as a primary concern, but privacy is an equal concern. The super-creative window treatments used at 100 Eleventh Avenue designed by Jean Nouvel are a perfect example of how an architect considered the vast expanses of glass and how it would affect day-to-day life. “In the future we would expect new buildings with masses of glass to deliver screening and privacy mechanisms along with the glass windows.”
Tags: architecture, glass box, glass buildings, James Carpenter, luxury real estate, luxuryletter, luxuryloft, manhattan real estate, new york real estate, Prudential Douglas Elliman
These basic glass buildings (not the exceptional ones with park or river views) will be outdated in the next decade.