Tanglewood Conservatories Blog – Alan Stein's Writings about Custom Conservatory Design and More

Tanglewood installation team enjoying a sunny break atop the cupola of the large steel and glass pool house conservatory under construction.

They are on top of the world, the job is going well!

The old-world, steel and glass pool enclosure that we are constructing is coming along quite well. Last week, the cupola was completed on our custom conservatory and the finish coat of paint put on to protect it from the fast approaching cold northern weather.

The dark bronze/grey color was chosen for the conservatory roof because it will blend well with the slate roof that will go onto the main house. Originally, copper was under consideration however costs and the desire for it to blend dictated the choice of a specially colored, powder coated aluminum.

Next week, the glazing of the lower main roof will begin in earnest. The large glass panels will arrive on site in wood crates the day before the work is to begin. The next day, a large crane will hoist each piece of glass, some weighing almost 300 pounds, into place on the roof using special equipment designed to set large pieces of glass high up.

The special lifting mechanism is a steel frame fitted with a small battery operated vacuum pump which sucks the air out of special rubber “cups” which are also attached to the frame, then “stick” to the glass panel allowing it to be hoisted up by the crane without danger.

The process usually proceeds remarkable quickly and safely though it can be a bit disconcerting to watch these large pieces of glass sailing through the air!

I will get some pictures of the process and post them for everyone to see. It is very interesting.

Though the room looks quite unfinished at this point, It is actually nearing completion. Once the glass roof panels are in place and sealed, the main level windows and doors will be installed and then the final trimwork put up for a finished project.

One of the great features of this particular room is the custom designed stained glass panels that will ornament the windows and doors. The intricate designs were created by us working closely with the owners and their designer. There are subtle patterns of color throughout which will add a magical effect to the overall atmosphere. I will post images of these as well as soon as they get installed.

Though sun and t-shirts prevail for the moment, we are actually racing to get the project completely weather tight before the cold weather sets in. On a large job such as this, there can be some anxious moments if everything doesn’t go just right at this time of year in the north. Metals become hard to handle in the cold and the special sealants used to make the glass roof weather tight cannot be applied below certain temperatures.

For now, it looks very good though. I will keep everyone posted on our progress.

Alan

Structural steel part being hoisted into place on for old world conservatory replica.

In addition to discussing the changes that have been taking place at Tanglewood over the past year which I began to do in my last blog, I also want to chronicle a really amazing project we’ve been working on for about the same amount of time.

It is one of the most challenging and unique project we’ve ever undertaken and it is now in the early stages of it’s on site installation.

The design challenge was to come up with a way of making the steel structure look authentically old – as if it were “found” somewhere in Europe and brought over and refurbished. Once we figured out how to design the building, we then had to figure out how to build it!

The room is to decorate a very substantial new home in the Midwest and enclose a large swimming pool, spa and lounge area. The unique feature of this conservatory pool enclosure is that from the beginning, the design was to mimic a true nineteenth century steel and glass greenhouse conservatory.

The building is supported by a decorative steel and cast iron structure which is then clad with glass. The owners fell in love with the great glass conservatory at Syon Park in London. They were enamored of the way the delicately detailed cast iron structure sits in distinct contrast to the heavier stone structure that encloses it and they wanted Tanglewood’s design to follow this concept.

What emerged is a truly remarkable building, as I think you’ll see.

Here is truck #4 of 6 (large flatbeds), steel and glass conservatory ready for shipment. Pictured is most of the team that has been working on the project.

Pictured below is the steel structure taking shape piece by piece. It was an elaborate jigsaw puzzle that was fabricated over a thousand miles away from the jobsite by several different fabricators working in tandem under Tanglewood’s direction.

The picture on the left is a picture of Nancy and myself with the project architect, the project manager and the owner of the construction company that is building the massive new house.

Those big round openings in the steel trusses are to accommodate a huge HVAC duct that will condition the entire space.

At the time of this writing, the steel structure is complete and we are just beginning the next phase of the erection, the wall and roof framing which will be the subject of my next report.

Alan

I just noticed that Sarah Kinbar, editor of Garden Design Magazine included Tanglewood Conservatories in her blog post last Friday. Sarah says of one of our projects, “I love This: Tiny Tanglewood Conservatory”. You can read Sarah’s blog at: http://gardendesignmag.blogspot.com/

Sarah writes about interesting subjects ranging from gardening tips to background information on varieties of new flowers to interviews with landscape designers.

One such entry caught my eye regarding the “Chiluly: The Nature of Glass” exhibit that has been making the botanical garden tour. It is now at the Phoenix Dessert Botanical Garden having been moved from prior installations in New York and Missouri. I believe this is similar to the exhibit I viewed in Chicago at the Garfield Park Conservatory years ago which I mentioned in my blog last month. I was surprised to learn it is still going. I was very happy to see that Mr. Chiluly shares the same affinity for the gardens, botanical landscapes and glass houses that we do. You can see a few pics of his recent work at:http://www.dbg.org/index.php/chihuly

Alan

This is a picture of Tanglewood shop personnel starting to load steel roof trusses onto a flatbed truck for shipment to a jobsite in Mississippi.

The project is a very interesting swimming pool enclosure; it is entirely made of steel, glass and aluminum on both the exterior and the interior. The steel part going onto the truck will be exposed on the inside of the room. The architect wanted a completely authentic steel and glass conservatory for his client and did not want any woodwork in it at all.

We have recently designed and built several of these steel and glass conservatories as well as a number of other pool enclosures. The challenge is to find ways of detailing the structure so that it doesn’t look like the contemporary aluminum frame pool buildings seen everywhere that are—well, just plain really ugly.

Just as with a wood building, it is the sensitivity to proportion, scale and the details which make the difference between the mundane, thoughtless buildings everywhere around us and the unique, creative and well crafted forms of the talented and thoughtful designer.

The challenge with working with steel is that it is much more difficult to add the details. Working with wood, it is easy to use a shaper or other cutter to make the forms you want however working with steel requires much more creativity and foresight.

Steel also offers a different aesthetic. A steel and glass conservatory can be much lighter feeling. The window sash and door parts are usually much narrower which if properly used, can give the room an elegant, gossamer effect.

We’re anxiously waiting to see how this one comes out when finished. I’ll keep everyone posted with more pictures as it progresses.

Alan

Since I was last showing images of my trip to Germany and some of the great copper domes and lanterns that I find an inspiration for our work, I thought I’d show another source of inspiration for our woodworking skills.

These beautiful mahogany “taxi cabs” are everywhere in Venice, probably more prolific that the fabled gondolas. Every time I saw a really great example of one going by, I vowed to expand our business into this new area of production!

Here’s another interesting sight. This was the dining room of a very upscale restaurant in Germany with a glass conservatory roof. Notice the live tree growing right through the glass ceiling. What a flashing nightmare!!!

Alan