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Why the Glass Office Is Here to Stay

Every year, offices get smaller—by at least 30 percent—and, every day, they get more transparent. Sliding glass doors have replaced solid hunks of wood and metal. See-through partitions and glass walls now rise up where tiny cubicles once stood. Welcome to the glass office of the 21st century: small and sustainable, bright and beautiful.

Glass meeting room partition

The Space Challenge

Businesses today face a tough challenge: maximize space in an increasingly cramped world. As square footage gets scarcer and scarcer, finding extra legroom becomes more and more difficult. How do you downsize without giving your employees a bad case of claustrophobia?

For one, you can install sliding room dividers and doors. Not only do they make an office look and feel bigger; they also cut down on wasted space. Gone are those large “dead” zones in front of swing doors. Sliding glass doors open with an easy horizontal movement.

Replacing conventional office doors with glass allows designers and their clients to skirt common design challenges. It means they can place private workspaces and conference rooms in previously taboo places like hallways or other confined spaces that can’t accommodate the clearance zones needed for swinging doors. In an era when every square foot matters, that can make all the difference.

The Light Challenge

If space is scarce, then light is a precious commodity. Particularly in North America, where offices often cover a large plot of ground, it’s hard to get natural light into the deep nooks and crannies of a building. The only alternative is to install expensive lighting fixtures—and lots of them.

That’s a deal-breaker for many executives and entrepreneurs. Electric light (of any variety) is no substitute for natural light, which has been proven to elevate mood, promote health, and raise productivity.

Then there are energy costs to consider. It takes a lot of money to illuminate an otherwise dim office—unless you can find a way to bring sunlight into the deep, dark recesses of your office. The easiest way to do that is to replace solid, light-blocking walls with glass. With a simple change of materials, you get more light and less sticker shock.

The Privacy Challenge

As time goes on, more employers realize the benefits of glass. That has led to an explosion in the popularity of glass office walls and doors. Still, some have concerns. What about privacy? How about echoes?

Enter the privacy wall—a partition made of frosted or smoked glass. The best part is that each wall can be customized to meet particular needs. Some businesses choose fully frosted office partition walls. Others opt for a half-and-half arrangement.

Another popular strategy is to put a frosted strip across the center of glass room partitions. That way, employees get plenty of light and visibility, without the complete openness that comes with full transparency.

Half frosted glass partition wall divides meeting room space

Embracing the Glass Office

There are as many reasons to embrace a glass office as there are offices in the world. Every business has its own unique set of concerns—health, privacy, productivity, energy costs, sustainability, openness, collaboration.

The popularity of glass fixtures owes largely to the fact that they satisfy such a broad spectrum of needs. Only with glass can you balance privacy and openness, collaboration and individuality, aesthetics and economics. Only with glass can you economize on space while getting an expansive design—all of which is why the glass office is here to stay.

Home office space divided by two clear glass panels with glass swing door

Want to know how you can take your office space from humdrum to spectacular? Contact the friendly interior glass door experts at The Sliding Door Company, to learn more about our workspace solutions for the 21st century.

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Transform Your Workspace with Glass Partitions and Doors Solutions

At The Sliding Door Company, we don’t just build the sturdiest, safest, most beautiful glass partitions and doors on the market. We also help businesses cut costs, improve health, boost, productivity, comply with government regulations, and become more sustainable. In other words, we provide so much more than doors; we transform space and elevate offices.

So, what makes our sliding glass doors so special?

They’re People-Friendly Glass Doors

At The Sliding Door Company, we love people. That’s why we make doors that are easy to buy, easy to install, and easy to use. Starting with our safe, tempered glass and easy-glide track systems, we put safety and usability at the top of our agenda. We also offer a wide selection of ADA-compliant handles, so that organizations never have to worry about compliance and people with disabilities never have to worry about access.

Enclosed glass corner office with modern sliding doors

Environmentally Friendly Glass Doors

Our doors are easy on people and on the environment. Not only do we use eco-friendly materials, but our room partitions reduce energy use by allowing light, air, and heat to circulate from one space to another. That helps businesses save money and set themselves on a greener, more sustainable footing.

Glass Doors or Walls are Easy to Install

In most cases, if you want to install new doors or walls, you have to call in a construction team. You have to tear down existing walls and throw up new structural components. Not with glass office dividers and sliding glass doors from The Sliding Door Company. Since they don’t require any structural support, you don’t need to put your business on hold while you gather construction permits and gut your building.

Custom Built Design Glass Walls and Doors

We don’t mass-produce our office partitions and glass door cubicles. Instead, we build each one to meet our client’s specific needs. The result is that our doors aren’t cookie-cutter “products.” They’re unique, custom-built interior design elements designed to fit the style and function of any work environment. By specializing only in manufacturing interior design solutions, we’re able to devote all of our time and energy to crafting the perfect door for any workspace.

Versatile Interior Glass Products

Whatever kind of door you want, we make it—sliding, stacking, swinging, suspended. Need fixed glass walls? We make those, too. We also serve a diverse set of clients in nearly every industry.

Emergency rooms, doctor’s offices, clinics, and other healthcare facilities use our sliding doors and office partitions to create a clean, hygienic space. Patients get privacy when they need it, and the staff gets maximum visibility when they need it.

Hotels, restaurants, and conference centers and other hospitality venues install glass walls and room partitions to offer the best customer experience—a flexible mix of elegance, privacy, and visibility. Officesschools, and government buildings use them to increase openness and versatility.

Factory Direct Glass Doors

Most manufacturers suffer from a fragmentation problem. One company designs the products, another builds them, and yet another sells them. The problem is that one hand never seems to talk to the other. Quality suffers. The customer experience becomes a nightmare.

When you order from The Sliding Door Company, you can be sure of one thing: We never subcontract our work out to others. All we do is cut out the dreaded middleman—we manufacture each one of our sliding doors in our own facility. That allows us to ensure quality, offer customized options, and provide personal service.

From the moment you step into The Sliding Door Company showroom, you’ll come face-to-face with an incredible support team made up of inside and outside account executives. They’ll be there to offer guidance at every step of your interior design journey, helping you select the doors that are right for your project.

Schedule a consultation with The Sliding Door Company, to experience the difference that quality, safety, and service make.