Super Cannes – phase 2
The last two weeks saw Daedalian’s second phase installation at a large and stunning private residence in the hills of Cannes in Southern France. There was a total of 1.7 tons of glass transported by a team of 4 which included; more frameless laminated fabric doors and screens, mirrors to cover an 11 metre section of wall in the dance studio, floor to ceiling, a bar back and top in coloured kiln formed and glass for extensive works in the spa. The spa included cladding four 3 metre high pool columns, a UV bonded glass cubical and clading the feature wall of the spa. Sadly there are still limited photos as the site still largely without lighting, but a portfolio of the work will be captured once complete. The UK owner who visited site during this phase was so impressed by our work that there is now a thrid phase in discussion with a visit likely in June. Unlike phase one, there was certainly no arctic weather on this trip with the team enjoying lunch pool side overlooking the bay of Cannes and the 1100 mile drive one way, saw the team stopping over in Reims where ther managed to briefly visit the town’s impressive cathedral - volunteers not required for phase three.
Super Cannes
Last week saw Daedalian’s first phase installation at a large and stunning private residence in the hills of Cannes in Southern France. There were a mixture of frameless bathroom doors and screens using laminated material in various colours with the house emblem etched on the doors and mirrors throughout the property. The final site survey was also taken for phase two works due to begin in late Feb, early March. The 2200 mile round trip certainly put the fitters through their paces and sadly the arctic weather followed them all the way down to the med with snow falling in Cannes during the visit – hopefully they’ll be packing their speedos next time!
Kiln Formed Glass Design – J Pullan and Sons – Joseph’s Well
Today’s post focuses on a project we completed recently for Leeds based building contractor and property developer J. Pullan & Sons. We created this unique kiln formed glass design for the redevelopment of Joseph’s Well – a former clothing factory in Leeds – which features extensively throughout the building in office doors, as hand rails and most notably, as tread plates retrofitted into the original Victorian cast iron central stair well.
In order to make such a considerable structure sound our team of technicians had to do more than simply supply toughened safety glass. Each tread plate is in fact made from three separate panels of glass, laminated together. In this case, due to the heavily textured surface of the kiln formed design, we were unable to use our preferred EVA laminating method. This meant us using a process called “cold pour” lamination; whereby liquid resin is sandwiched between two or more glass panels. This process can be tricky, but it allowed us to bond the heavily textured surface of the kiln formed glass to the flat safety glass that supports it.
Going to these lengths meant that the stairs in Joseph’s Well are as safe as they are impressive; especially with LED lighting along the back edge of each tread casting a serous light through the stairs. In addition the same patterned glass was used for 3 metre high office doors and, as a first for us, lead crystal rod was used as hand railing.
Despite the production hurdles we managed to supply just what the client wanted, so much so that a subsequent boardroom table, in the same style, was ordered immediately afterwards.
If we say so ourselves, we were impressed by the finished scheme and we hope you are too.
If you have any questions regarding this, or any other project, please get in touch with us.
Warm regards,
The Daedalian Team.
Chelmsford Cathedral
For today’s blog entry we are taking a short trip back in time and space, to the county of Essex, England and to last year, where we completed a Chapel project in Chelmsford Cathedral. It’s a longer entry than usual, but we hope you enjoy it non-the-less.
Daedalian were contacted in the Autumn of 2008 by local architect Gerald Barrett who, working with the Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral , The Very Reverend Peter Judd, sought Daedalian for their reputation for innovative and contemporary glass design and a long association with religious art of all denominations. The brief was to produce a glass screen to help create one of the Cathedral Chapels into a more secluded area for private prayer, while still maintaining a sense of openness.
St Cedd’s Chapel is where Morning Prayer is said and the Eucharist is celebrated each day. Throughout the day the Chapel is open for private prayer and is unexpectedly placed at the back of the Cathedral. Because of its position it enables people to slip in and out anonymously and is the reason the Chapel is so often used and the candle stand, where people light their candles with their prayers, never goes out.
Dean Judd had always liked the chapel, but felt it could use some improvement. “The Chapel is brilliantly accessible, but has always felt a bit exposed. We thought carefully about how we could make the Chapel feel more enclosed, without making it feel exclusive”
After a period of consultation, wherein Daedalian produced a variety samples to create the desired effect, the popular Chiffon Organic laminated glass design was settled on, the benefit of which was three fold: To achieve a subtle, but definite sense of privacy, decrease sound intrusion from the rest of the Cathedral and to form a sympathetic visual confluence with the existing Guiseppe Lund sculpted bronze railings. Along with fulfilling the the primary criteria, it was also hoped that Daedalian could achieve the project brief with a minimum of mechanical fixings, as the dean and architect had seen done by Daedalian previously, at Great Missenden Church.
To do this, each panel was bolted to the ground, below floor level, with stainless steel clamps; perpendicular fins were bonded to body of the screens, as opposed to using mechanical fixings, to hold the panels together. Daedalian worked closely with DP Squared Structural Engineering to make absolutely certain that the system they devised would give the necessary rigidity and structural stability, while keeping a light and open feel for the overall scheme. To finish, each door was fitted with 350mm long lead crystal pull handles, again helping to keep the amount of metal fixtures and fittings to a minimum.
The project was completed in late 2010 and more than fitted the bill for the congregation of Chelmsford Cathedral, as Dean Judd points out; “The new glass screens with their lines of folded cloth, which mirror the bronze bars, do just what we hoped. They enclose the Chapel and make it feel secure and special, without compromising the sense of openness and accessibility. This is a scheme that has worked out brilliantly. What we set out to do has been achieved and more; a special chapel has been made more so and its ‘presence’ has been enhanced by the beautiful and fitting work done by Daedalian Glass Design.”
The Islip Big Bike Ride – 27th March 2011
Davia and Chris Walmsley along with their son Joe and his partner Becca took part in The Big Bike Ride on Sunday 27 March 2011.
Setting off from Westminster Abbey cycling the 65 miles to St Nicholas Church in Islip, Oxfordshire. It turned out to be a beautiful spring day cycling through the Chilterns to Great Missenden and then onto Islip. There were some 100 cyclists in all and the journey took about 7 hours with several welcome refreshment stops manned by volunteers from the church. We are quite new to cycling and were somewhat apprehensive at first – there are some big hills in the Chilterns, a bit tough going up but exhilerating coming down. This wasn’t a race, of course, so we took our time and felt remarkably well at the finish, this could become quite addictive! And what a very pleasant surprise as we climbed up the last short hill to St Nicholas’s Church to clapping and cheering onlookers, this must be like “Le Tour”
A thoroughly enjoyable day, we can only thank the good people of Islip for their support and hospitality and wish them great success with their fund raising efforts.
Anyway, back to work, we have a very big screen to make!!
