Glass wall installations can look exceptional. They’re clean, they’re modern, they’re surprisingly durable, and they offer a wide variety of available features. However, when integrating glass walls and doors into your office design, it’s important that you keep these 3 glass-specific concerns in mind.
You’ve likely seen it in TV shows, movies, and YouTube clips: A character is walking down a hallway and unwittingly walks into a glass wall or door, bouncing off like a cartoon.
In reality, however, walking into a glass partition can be quite dangerous, particularly if the individual is travelling with a fair amount of momentum.
You will want to make sure that you take visibility into consideration. There are a number of solutions that can greatly improve visibility, such as painting a ‘guide line’ along the middle of your brand colours, using decals or other decorations, using glass that’s partially frosted, or even just adding slotted blinds.
This is particularly important for glass partitions that are near the corners of walkways.
When it comes to privacy and security sometimes translucent glass simply isn’t appropriate. If the employee behind a glass wall or door is going to be dealing with sensitive work, or if they will hold private meetings with staff or clients, having some way to apply visual privacy is highly recommended. If your staff works with highly confidential information, it is a good idea to ensure that their workstations always face an opaque wall. And if they require 360-degree privacy for meetings, retractable blinds can grant sufficient privacy in an instant.
Glass offices can also be quite distracting for some individuals. To some, being able to see another worker or screen out of the corner of their eye can be quite distracting, and if the office is completely translucent, subordinates will be unable to tell when a manager is open and ready to speak with them, and when the manager is trying to lock him or herself down to get work done. Retractable privacy measures such as blinds, or a clearly noticeable opacity on the door can give the manager a way to tell workers that they are not ready for a distraction.
Fire exits should always be clearly marked regardless of layout, but it’s particularly important in offices that make heavy use of glass partitions. Always make sure that you have sufficient signage, and that your employees are always aware of the fastest way to the nearest emergency exit. The ‘bird into the window’ effect is particularly important in the case of emergency exit paths; if someone is panicked and rushing, they are less likely to pay attention to their surroundings.
When you’ve taken the above into consideration and are ready to move forward with your Toronto glass wall installation, contact us today to make sure that your walls are installed in a proper, prompt, and professional manner.