Travelers Experience Increasingly Luxurious Airport Environments Featuring Luminous Architectural Glass

Architectural Glass by Bendheim Combines Modernity, Durability, and Hygiene

Creative designers are recognizing the key role light plays in creating vibrant, welcoming environments, and are choosing decorative glass to lend enduring style to air travel facilities worldwide. Our specialty architectural glass is an increasingly popular choice among designers for its variety and luxurious, clean aesthetic that conveys quality and prestige.

Across the U.S. and around the world, travelers spend a significant amount of time inside airports – relaxing in a lounge, enjoying a refreshment at a restaurant, or browsing a boutique – highlighting the need to create positive, competitive customer experiences. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, air travel surged in 2017 with 965 million people boarding U.S. and international flights. Airport construction is also growing at 5 to 10 percent worldwide. Macro design trends, such as the introduction of ornamental retail and hospitality elements in airport design, are making decorative architectural glass an increasingly attractive building material.

“The glass is easily the most becoming of all the finishes on the project.”

British Airways Lounge, Dulles International Airport, VA by TPG Architecture.

In addition to its enduring elegance, our wide range of architectural glass options provide improved environmental outcomes, including naturally hygienic surfaces and improved energy efficiency. The non-porous glass surfaces discourage the spread of bacteria and are easy to maintain – true power-performers in high-traffic airport environments. Glass is also sought-after for its lustrous quality, creating luminous environments that require less electric lighting.

Various types of our architectural glass were used to reinvent the British Airways Lounge in Dulles International Airport. TPG Architecture turned to Bendheim to manufacture a variety of custom glass, from dark blue back-painted glass to match British Airways’ signature hue, to imprinted custom graphics. Inside the lounge, customers can also enjoy our ultra-white Fade^® glass, privacy glass partitions with custom graphics, and subway-style glass backsplashes. The brand-coordinated customization helps travelers easily locate the entrance to the lounge and creates luxurious bespoke interiors.

“Thanks to the Bendheim team, S. Albert Glass Company is proud of the final result,” said Mark Guidot, Senior Project Manager, S. Albert Glass Company, “The glass is easily the most becoming of all the finishes on the project.”

Back-painted glass is one of the fastest growing decorative glass materials in airport design, cladding feature walls, hallways, bathrooms, and retail spaces. Another in-demand glass is hand-made Lamberts^® glass, used to create monumental art glass installations throughout North America.

Indianapolis Airport,
Indianapolis, IN by Martin Donlin

At Indianapolis International Airport, several expansive art windows, designed by Martin Donlin with Lamberts mouth-blown glass, create alternative views, obscuring the untidy tarmac landscape. The windows feature poems by local writers, entertaining travelers with thoughts of adventure and excitement.

Both in the U.S. and abroad, Bendheim glass can also be found at Vinifera Restaurant at Toronto Airport, Ontario, Canada; Hamad International Airport, Doha, Qatar; Minneapolis Airport, C Concourse, Minneapolis, MN; O’Hare International Airport, Terminals 1 & 5, Chicago, IL; American Airlines Admirals Club, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Dallas, TX; Rochester Airport, Rochester, NY; and Newark Airport, Newark, NJ.