Monthly Archives: May 2010

Current Greenhouse Project

Posted May 27th, 2010 by Alan Stein and filed in Conservatory Projects, Greenhouses
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Steel Structure of Custom GreenhouseHere are some pictures of the interior structural steel for a new greenhouse project we are working on.

This project features both a fully functional greenhouse as well as a conservatory. The greenhouse will be used to grow all manner of flora while the attached conservatory will be devoted to their display.

The exposed steel structure is a typical feature of larger scale greenhouses, its robust character and construction often celebrated as it was in the old train station architecture. Here, the structure is used to support a much lighter weight “skin” consisting of wood windows and glass panels which gives the greenhouse an airy transparency both in reality and effect.

The steel columns and beams are fabricated with a decorative patterning which adds interesting detail and contributes to lightening the overall effect.

I will continue to post progress pictures on this very unique project – one of the most unusual greenhouses and conservatories Tanglewood has ever designed.

Many people ask the question: What is the difference between a conservatory and a greenhouse? Quite simply, no matter what the architectural style or construction materials, a greenhouse is intended for plants while a conservatory is intended for people.

Not that a beautiful greenhouse, especially a beautiful, romantic antique greenhouse or soaring glass-roofed palm house, such as the one above is designed to be, doesn’t invite one inside to bask in the rarity and quietude of its magnificent tropical setting.

Most of the custom greenhouses Tanglewood has designed and built have been used extensively for both planting and people. A beautiful greenhouse filled with exotic specimens, as was also done in years past, make great party rooms. In Victorian times, the romanticism of the conservatory greenhouse was in striking contract to the formality of everyday life. Images abound of delightful pursuits inside the conservatory.

Victorian Greenhouse Art

Many a Tanglewood greenhouse began with an idea for a mere potting shed or cultivation house, then grew and flourished to become a magnificent botanical greenhouse. A singular sanctuary for its owners to retreat to or entertain in as suits their pleasure.

Many greenhouses have specialized mechanical systems to facilitate the horticulture. Whether it be a misting system, specialized lighting, heating or sun shading, each unique greenhouse project requires something special – the same as all our projects.

Alan

Tanglewood Conservatories’ President Alan Presents to the Woodworking Industry Conference

Posted May 9th, 2010 by Alan Stein and filed in General, Insights
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woodworking industry conference panelists
Drew Greenblatt, CEO Marlin Steel Wire Products, myself, Greg Moores, Senior Product Designer, DeWalt tools, and Mike Galliazo, Founder of the Regional Manufacturing Institute at our presentation to the Woodworking Industry Conference.

My recent trip to Monterey, California was a huge success. I was invited to participate in the Woodworking Industry Conference as a panelist discussing “Going $ Green; What woodworking companies are doing to become green”.

Conference attendees were interested to hear about Tanglewood’s multifaceted approach to sustainability and green issues. We feel it is important to keep pushing our conservatory company to become better stewards of the environment and the resources we use.

At the conference, I spoke about our efforts to become a completely paperless company, to reuse as much of our scrap material as possible, to utilize raw materials form sustainable sources and to incorporate cutting edge technology into our products and processes.

One of the most exciting aspects of our push towards greater green is the introduction of existing green technologies into our projects. The use of photovoltaic’s is a great example. There are presently glass products on the market that act both as photovoltaic generation panels and semi-transparent panes of glass that can be incorporated into the roof or windows of a “green” conservatory. This technology has been available for several years and is getting better all the time.

One client recently approached us with a request to use such a product in his conservatory design and we were able to locate a source and design it into his conservatory.

At the conference, I also spoke about other opportunities for incorporating green technologies into our conservatories through the inclusion of products already fairly commonplace in buildings such as geothermal heating and cooling, LED lighting and wind turbines for electricity generation. The object of using these products is to lessen the energy impact of a conservatory (or any other type of building) project.

There is already a lot of interest in this kind of inclusive broad based approach to the greening of our projects.

These kinds of specialized solutions fit well with Tanglewood’s design philosophy which values the complete flexibility to respond to each customer’s unique requests whether technological, architectural or functional.

Alan