— 8 —Modern Steel Orangery

The client spoke of a sunroom with a “grand star-shaped display of light gracefully beaming through the roof”. When describing the design process for this unique skylight, the architect relates, “It began as just a flat glass plane in a starburst shape and then we separated it into a cluster of stars as if they were in a constellation. Then we decided to raise it up into a three-dimensional form with undulating planes of glass. It became a very complex geometric shape at that point.”

The main challenge with the design was how to minimize the amount of steel framing required to support the intricate shape. “We wanted the skylight to be like a crystalline glass jewel in a minimalist setting and did not want the heavy steel framing that we thought would be required.”