The finishing touch

This private residence in Cleveland features a 20-foot-long, 2-foot-wide, 1-inch-thick glass countertop that is made of two surfaces of cast glass with white glass shards; one layer is back painted. Architectural Glass Art, Inc.  handled the fabrication, engineering and installation of the glass, designed by Ursula Vourvoulis.

Inspired by Le Corbusier’s Chaise Lounge LC4, This Is It designed this custom glass chaise. Continuously immersed, all the chaise’s components had to withstand the potential corrosive power of water.

Polished 316 stainless steel hardware is embedded and laminated between two layers of ½-inch, kiln-formed glass, while the pillow is cast from optically clear lead crystal. While the chaise visually dissolves into a thin aqueous band below the waterline, the highly polished surface of the crystal pillow draws attention to the tiny bubble inclusions inside, according to This Is It designers.

To create this flower-shaped countertop, Bel Pre Glassworks, Inc. cut the ¾-inch clear glass using a waterjet machine, finished the high polished edges on its Bizmatic edger and then frosted the glass to add detail. According to Bel Pre, the most challenging aspect of the project was digitizing a paper pattern to create a DXF file that would enable the waterjet machine to make the intricate cuts. Jefferson One, LLC, Mclean, Va., was the installer for the project.