The word “partitions” usually conjures up an image of an open-office situation where dividing panels (sometimes glass, sometimes not) have been erected to give the staff some feeling of privacy and ownership over their allotted ‘space’. Think again.

We recently had the pleasure of working with a client – Vitrocsa – whose interpretation of ‘partition’ takes on board a much grander (and clearer) meaning. Their concept brings you not only clarity, light and all-encompassing views, but through a series of large, frameless sliding glass panels attached to a proprietary rail system, their walls slide completely away to bring you into direct contact with the outside. The concept is breathtaking and bold in its architectural scope, scale and design. While, clearly, affordability will ensure for some time its exclusivity, plus a building’s location would dictate its suitability, the design concept is well worthy of praise.

Vitrocsa’a inclusion of our large Switchable Privacy Glass panels in one of these operable walls in a Hong Kong resident’s home was a stroke of genius, giving the owner the additional ability to create a private environment (‘at the flick of a switch’) without the clutter of dust-collecting blinds or drapes.

The use of our Switchable Privacy Glass panels or partitions in offices is now well founded, where, in addition to the ability of staff to create privacy at will, the panels themselves – in their opaque or “off” state – can be used for projected visual displays, instructional videos or simply as white boards . . . and all this from either side.