Now you see me. Now you don’t! The amazing Switchable Glass.

Our own little bit of magic in the barn.

The finished glass wall. It’ll look so much better once that stair balustrade and the hanging 2nd staircase are removed.

This is a free post for all as I’m so utterly thrilled to bits with our new switchable smart glass wall that I want as many people as possible to know about it. To read, watch, or listen to most of my interior and garden posts, become part of our friendly community and have access to my archive you’ll need to become a paid member of the club. You’d be super welcome.

I’ve never been a big fan of magic. I’ve always found the whole rabbit out of the hat thing a tad cringeworthy, particularly in the late ‘80s with the all the sequinned lapels, Copperfieldesque theatricality and scantily-clad dancing assistants. For me, the only noteworthy conjuring moment of that era came from the legendary Caroline Aherne, a.k.a Mrs Merton, asking the British magician Paul Daniels’s much younger wife and assistant Debbie McGee: “but, what first Debbie, attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”

But, I do love a good super power like that of Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Wolverine, Captain America or The Invisible Man. To have an inherent supernatural ability to be able to fly or become invisible, now that’s magic.

Many years ago I was watching a rather special edition of Grand Designs on the tellybox in which one brave couple had decided to use something called switchable glass, also known as smart glass or intelligent glass. It’s a genius invention, mainly used in private hospitals, swanky London offices and the odd Manhattan loft, in which seemingly ordinary glass can turn from clear to frosted at the touch of a button as if by magic.

In 2009 I watched transfixed as this couple could be seen clearly from behind a glass wall only to disappear a second later once the switch was flicked. Instant privacy - the new super power for the budding renovator and I wanted it! I’d have to wait a good 15 years though and go through another five house moves and renovations, but it was worth it!

It’s been there, very quietly in the back of my mind waiting for the right house. Now I am very happy to declare that it has graced our first mezzanine level in the new barn. This is supposedly our last renovation, so I am keen, finances willing, to make sure that all the crazy things we ever wanted to do to a house come true.

The mezzanine

The plan is that the first mezzanine (there’s another currently accessed via the stupid staircase that hangs from the ceiling that you can just see in the photo above), which can be seen from the main living area below, will either become our bedroom area, or the walk-in wardrobe and chill-out/reading zone. Either way, we want to maintain the natural light, if not increase it, that streams in from above down to the dining area and kitchen below.

The ugly wooden balustrade around the perimeter of the mezzanine has been removed and the oak beams where the glass wall is now have been painstakingly stripped by yours truly. I’ve still more to do, but that’s another story. The cavernous hole where the balustrade was has now been replaced with such sorcery, such magical wonderment that your eyes will practically pop with disbelief. Look:

Amazing isn’t it! There were due to be six narrower panels, but three looked better. The panels don’t fight with the oak beams. It’s a very tricky thing adding a contemporary element to centuries old architecture, but I think it works here.

It’s a brilliant solution for retaining privacy when needed, but allowing the light to stream in the rest of the time. It’ll also stop all the heat going straight upstairs come winter. We’re adding a temporary curtain to the stairwell. The whole staircase will be moving next year.

In all honesty, our mezzanine level isn’t the perfect place for switchable smart glass as we have a large Velux window in the roof, which causes an added haze on the glass. In a normal room the glass would be appear almost completely clear. There’s also whopping great oak beams right next to the panels, which means the shadow can always be seen, but I made sure I went up to the mezzanine in the video to show you that I can’t be seen at all, once it goes opaque. What do you think?

So what is switchable smart glass and how does it work?

Switchable Glass allows instant privacy at the flick of a switch. When a 65V AC electrical current is passed through the glass, the liquid crystals wondrously align, resulting in transparency. When the glass is powered off, the liquid crystals scatter randomly, which creates the opacity and makes me disappear. Oh the fun I’ve been having. We’re going to need a new switch at this rate. Next time someone comes to visit who I don’t like that much I can pop upstairs and do a moonie at them and they’d be none the wiser!

It’s manufactured by using two panes of glass (normally toughened) with a PDLC (Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal) film and EVA bonding materials between them, which is then laminated at precise temperatures. It’s the liquid crystal within the glass that provides either the opaque privacy (no power) or translucent (power applied) condition. Fascinating isn’t it!

Installation

I should let you know that this stuff is very expensive! However, we used a company called Teknoglass, which, astonishingly, is based in Horndean, just up the road from our old Victorian house and our holiday let in Emsworth, England. They came in much much cheaper than other companies I spoke to who wanted around £1000 a square metre and that’s before adding the frame and installation! From my first call with the lovely Bob at Teknoglass to installation was less than a month and the service was impeccable. Overall, I’d say the actual fitting of the panels and the electrical hook-up took around two days. We chose the thinnest of black frames so that they didn’t detract from the character of the barn. Our job was one of the trickiest they’ve ever done as nothing in our barn is square or true, so they had to build around the oak beams.

The evolution of the mezzanine from April to now.

What about Smart Film? I’ve heard that’s so much cheaper?

Smart Film can be retrofitted to existing windows to give the same effect as fully laminated Switchable Glass. You may have seen reels or TikToks showing how ‘easy’ it is to fit the film yourself. It isn’t! The room needs to be hermetically sealed as one tiny speck of dust between the glass and the film will ruin it. It’s also still very expensive, so it’s not something you want to get wrong. Bob from Teknoglass said don’t touch it with a barge pole and that it always fails.

I read review after review saying that the installation had failed and it needed to be replaced. Here’s one review I read about it: “It’s super cool once it's installed, but installing it I found to be horrible! The film is so thick. One spec of dust causes a bubble the size of a dime. One side can look perfect, but the other side has bubbles. Oh and it scratches easily. It comes with a protective film layer for application, but once its removed it needs to be known that it will look like the hood of a car your kid washed with a beach towel unless you take special non-abrasive care when cleaning.”

Conclusion

If you’re going to do it, get the real thing. The glass that we have can be cleaned just like any other window. The liquid crystal is within our glass, so there’s no chance of any bubbling and it won’t scratch. It comes with a two-year guarantee, but Bob tells me that he has never had a panel fail. Each one is tested literally millions of times. The only thing you must do is turn it off for at least four hours a day. It’s opaque when it’s turned off, so we do that before we go to bed. The other thing I should mention is that when it is in its translucent state, the glass is not completely clear. There’s between a 3 and 7% haze to the glass depending on conditions. Looking straight on you’d think it was normal glass, from the side you can tell it’s different. But, to me it’s worth it. I just can’t stop flicking the switch. Now you see me, now you don’t!

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