Glass for homes has evolved, extending now to several versions of so-called “smart glass.” Smart glass provides privacy, deadens noise and controls indoor temperatures, among other benefits.
For example, Boca Raton-based Evervue manufactures a dual product called the MirrorVue TV with coated, two-way glass. It operates as a television set, but when turned off, it looks like a mirror.
Jackie Valle, a sales and product specialist at Evervue, told the Wall Street Journal the thin MirrorVue TV screen is 1.3 inches deep and waterproof, so many owners use them in bathroom vanities: “You can throw water directly on them and it’s not going to affect anything.”
Heat-reducing and noise-deadening glass panels constitute the facade of the Oceana Bal Harbour condominium building. Two glass panels have a metallic-based layer between them, which blocks ultraviolet light. The manufacturer of the three-layer glass panels, Viracon of Owatonna, Minnesota, produces the panels in sizes as large as 6 feet by 10 feet.
Privacy glass that is switchable turns from opaque to clear at the touch of a button. Switchable privacy glass consists of two panels and a film between them that conducts electricity. The glass remains opaque until the voltage is turned on, which activates the film and gives the glass transparency.
Anthony Branscum of Innovative Glass Corporation in Plainview, New York, told the Wall Street Journal that homeowners exposed to smart glass at their workplaces want similar glass for their homes.
“We’ve seen more and more consumer-driven requests for the product,” Branscum told the Journal. [Wall Street Journal] — Mike Seemuth