Dazzling Downtown Marketing Suite Features “Magical” Privacy Glass

Prominent architectural firm Eastlake Studio specified our Houdini™ Privacy Glass in a high-end marketing suite on the 12^th floor at 1 South Wacker, a luxury office tower in Chicago. The design seeks to bring the outside in and uses advanced materials to create a work environment that combines glamor and functionality.

Houdini™ glass features a precision-rolled micro-fluted pattern to transmit maximum daylight while providing a high level of visual privacy. The name refers to the remarkable visual effect it creates, whereby people and objects seem to disappear behind it even as light continues to shine through. In addition to diffusing light, Houdini™ reduces glare and minimizes reflections.

“Our design team was drawn to Houdini glass because it creates a unique blur effect that is different from other fluted options,” noted Emily Koss, Technical Designer at Eastlake Studio. “The combination of the vertical flutes and the horizontal striation creates a dynamic visual which allows natural light in, but also created division and privacy,” Koss added.

Eastlake Studio’s design for the 37,000 square foot marketing suite uses elements such as breezeway block, recessed lighting, and plants.  A key aspect of this outdoor theme is the inclusion of as much daylight as possible.  Eastlake used approximately 1,000 square feet of laminated Houdini™ glass for the office partitions, allowing high-quality natural light to fill the space.  Other uses of Houdini™ glass throughout the suite reinforce this fundamental of the design.

1 South Wacker suite renovation by Eastlake Studio. Photos by Hall + Merrick + McCaugherty.

As Emily Koss explained, “We used the glass throughout the space to help form the cohesive design story. It appears in full-height walls in meeting rooms, as a feature in the break room, and as booth dividers. In addition to being aesthetically interesting, the glass filters light in, while keeping a focus on what is in the foreground, and limiting distraction beyond.” Installation at 1 South Wacker was carried out by MTH Industries.

Houdini™ glass can be customized through combination with a virtually unlimited range of color interlayers, prints, and other textured and etched glass varieties. It can also be back-painted or laminated to mirror for wall cladding applications. The glass is an ideal solution for environments where privacy and natural light are vital, including educational facilities, retail applications, healthcare and laboratories, along with offices.

“There are multiple benefits to Houdini™ glass in this application,” Bendheim co-owner Steven Jayson said. “It establishes visual privacy, while managing daylight and bringing high-quality natural light into the core of the space. We have seen substantial growth in the popularity of linear privacy glass, and it’s great to see it contribute to projects that represent the leading edge of design.”