Case Study - ‘ The Chapel Gallery’, Ormskirk. Windows for the gallery facade.
I was awarded this commission after my proposal submission, experience of working on previous commercial projects and teaching experience.
The gallery had been awarded a grant to reconfigure the internal spaces and install a lift to expand community spaces by giving access to the upper floor. The architectural glass commission was to create 2 features, one to the front facade of the building and the other to the side.
The Project
I proposed to use visual references from the internal spaces of the building and from the existing stained glass which was to be removed as part of the redevelopment.
The large glass panels were to be made using a laminated glass technique I had been developing for a few months, although I had only explored this through small scale sample investigations to this point.
My idea for this brief was to create a contemporary take on stained glass. I laser cut and hand perforated card and fabrics to reference the opaque, traditional leaded lines. Metals, fabrics, hand painted silks, coloured films and threads were incorporated.
Manufacture
All the components for the windows were created in my studio, it was strange but equally liberating to be not working with actual glass! I spent weeks painting fabric, assembling laser cut components, stapling pieces together with copper, hammering metal wires. (All these elements were tested through samples to ensure would survive the lamination).
Once I had all of the panels assembled in three sections, I transported them to Merseyside for the final assembly in-between the toughened glass and firing in the laminating kiln. (see images to the bottom left). The laminating kiln was large enough to take all three panels in one firing. The glass is wrapped and heated to only around 120 degrees centigrade (a lot less than kiln-forming glass). The glass is also put under pressure during the process to ensure the unit is sealed tightly.
Image below shows the glass in the processing factory once laminated.
The final stage was to have the glass made into three double glazed units before being installed.
Working with young people
As part of the commission I was assigned to work with amazing groups of secondary school students ranging in age from year 7 to year 9. I taught visual workshops for one day a week for 6 weeks.
An initial meeting was held in the gallery where the students visually recorded the internal spaces through sketching, exploring perspective, line, form and shape.
The following workshops were held at the school where students began to process their drawings through various guided exercises, playing with scale and looking at transparency and opacity.
We worked on large scale collages editing and layering elements of early drawings and then developing through to laminating colour gels and papers to investigate the play of light.
Side Elevation Window
When I initially submitted the costings of the project, I had stated that there would not be enough money to manufacture the side elevation windows to the same specification as the front windows so I proposed installing a window film over the three panes of existing glass which would create an injection of colour and pattern in a corridor space.
The effect, as seen here, was really successful. I created the design using photoshop and illustrator and had the window film digitally printed.
I think it was more nerve wracking installing this than the actual large double glazed units !
