Familie Kroos Herten [NL]

EeStairs + Formtek

The design of the Herten residence, by Formtech Architects is truly Modernist: rectilinear, with white-painted facades and large glazed areas, standing on V-shaped pairs of columns. The architectural genius Le Corbusier described modernist homes as “machines for living in”. But this family obviously wanted more than that – a machine for creating views.

The large glazed sections of the facade are the first step. But a key aspect of the design was the need to for balcony edges on the first and second floors to be as transparent as possible. And EeStairs unique groovEe™ glass balustrade system delivered the outstanding degree of transparency required. This is particularly obvious when looking out from inside the house – there is no loss of view when looking through both the window and the balustrade outside.

The groovEe™ system achieves this because of an EeStairs designed slot cast directly into the concrete balconies. This locks the base of the glass balustrade safely into the concrete – and there are no other visible fixings, just pure glass with a slim metal cap-rail along the top of the panels.