#Glasshouse
︎ Ciara Mitchel, MArch 1 Student
glass-making · seaweed · translucence · heat · sand-casting · weighted shingles
The aim of this project is to reconnect with old technologies for making glass using seaweed in order to produce a glass product that is local to Northern Ireland. Due to the fact that Strangford Lough is a special protection area and that interference to the sea bed is to be kept to a minimum, the building meets the ground in only one place by means of a single column that fans out with stacked beams to support the glass structure above. The furnace becomes a continuation of this column and acts as the main structural support for the steel beams carrying the roof build-up. The building is clad in artisan sand-cast glass shingles which droop over the edge of the roof for drainage and wrap up the furnace to form the flashing detail. On the roof these shingles are weighted down with glass orbs which hang internally creating an atmosphere of kaleidoscopic refracted light.
