Walls, Windows & Floors: Steel Window and Door Fabricators
From Julie
So many readers asked about the metal French door in our Steal This Look: Brooklyn Heights Kitchen post a while back that we thought it our civic duty to provide some sourcing ideas. Steel windows and doors have many advantages: due to the material's strength, steel windows have very slender sight lines, they work well in both traditional and modern houses, and they require minimal upkeep compared with wood windows and doors. Here are four suppliers that come highly recommended by several architects and builders we quizzed.
BLISS NOR-AM
This Rochester, NY/Canada-based company makes high-quality, beautifully detailed powder-coated metal doors and windows. To see a gallery of options, visit Bliss Nor-Am.
CRITTALL WINDOWS
This venerable company was founded in 1889 in the UK and has provided windows and doors to Yale University, Walter Gropius, and the New York Botanical Gardens. San Francisco architect Malcolm Davis used them in the project shown below; go to Crittall Windows for information.
HOPE'S WINDOWS
Located in Jamestown, NY, Hope's Windows makes top-of-the-line steel and bronze windows and doors.
BONELLI WINDOWS
In Northern California, Bonelli Windows is a favorite with architects (they were recommended by Gustave Carlson, who used them in Architect Visit: Gustave Carlson in Inverness).
March 24, 2009
Related Posts
» Walls, Windows & Floors: Tracy Kendall Wall Graphics
» Steal This Look: J. Weiss Kitchen & Bar in SF
» Walls, Windows & Floors: Stenciled Floors at the Bedford Post Inn
» Architect Visit: Stable Café by Malcolm Davis
» Architect Visit: Gustave Carlson in Inverness
I am completely obsessed with this blog.
beautiful!
We used Crittal windows & doors for this house.
http://www.mdarch.net/pages/presidio.html
It's also our civic duty to remind people that large expanses of glass might require upping the thermostat considerably. I'm working on a project now and we'd like to use reclaimed storefront windows but the energy modelling shows the building would perform horribly.
Double or triple panes with steel framing, combined with lots of wall and ceiling insulation and a groundsource geothermal HVAC create an aesthetically beautiful and ecologically mindful application.
Are these insulated? If not, and they're just a single piece of metal that spans from the outdoors to the indoors, they will conduct cold inwards and it could be extremely uncomfortable. I imagine that they must be insulated - though they don't look as if they are. I live in an old church with metal windows, and though they're double-glazed, you just have to walk by them to feel the cold wind emanating off them. At first I thought my windows were unsealed, or actually wide open, until I realized the cold was actually coming in via conduction. Some modern metal windows have a layer of plastic or foam sandwiched inside so that there is no uninterrupted metal that goes all the way from outside to inside, and one day I'm going to replace all my windows with those. I have an uninsulated, double-glazed metal window above my desk and in winter my hands become so cold from the downdraft that I can barely type.
PS! These windows are all gorgeous.
The kind of steel window is preferably chosen by the people right about this time, modern times. They are using this type of window because it makes their houses more elegant looking. It can give a relaxing ambiance. You may be able to see everything in every way because it was easily cleaned up.
