Rethinking Privacy in the Age of Glass Houses

As homes have become brighter and increasingly connected to their surroundings, privacy has posed a more complex design challenge. Expansive windows, glass entryways, and indoor/outdoor living spaces bring in natural light and create a sense of openness, but they also introduce moments of exposure… particularly at night or in more densely populated areas.

Traditionally, that balance has been managed with blinds, curtains, or shades. In contemporary homes, that often makes them at odds with the very architecture they’re meant to complement.

CLiC®, a smart privacy glass developed by Cardinal Glass Industries, approaches that balance differently. The glass shifts from clear to private in milliseconds, while still allowing natural light to pass through. This system integrates privacy directly into the window or door itself, rather than layering it on afterward.

"So many privacy solutions ask you to choose," says Peter Whaley, technical sales and marketing manager at Cardinal Glass Industries. "Do you want daylight, or do you want privacy? Do you want the view, or do you want to feel comfortable in your own home?"

That tension became the starting point for CLiC. While privacy glass has existed for years, Whaley explains that many earlier systems weren’t designed with residential use in mind. "Aesthetically, it just wasn’t where it needed to be for the home," he says.

Instead of refining what already existed, Cardinal approached the challenge from the ground up, drawing on decades of experience across glass manufacturing, coatings, and lamination to create a system that aligns with both performance expectations and modern living.

Here, Whaley shares how CLiC was developed, what sets it apart, and how it’s influencing the way privacy is considered in residential spaces.

What was the original vision behind CLiC, and what did you want to fundamentally change about how privacy functions in the home?

The initial idea came from a familiar place: customer demand.

"We looked at what was already out there and said, ‘We can do better,’" Whaley says. "There wasn’t a lot of room to innovate in blinds-between-glass, and when we looked at other switchable privacy products, we felt they weren’t going to meet a homeowner’s expectations over the long run."

The goal shifted toward something more foundational: rethinking privacy as part of the glass itself. As homes have evolved to feature larger windows and more open layouts, traditional solutions have struggled to keep up. CLiC was designed to support that evolution, allowing homeowners to maintain the connection to the landscape while still having control over when and how their space is seen. 

What major problem did you see in current home privacy devices that CLiC wanted to solve?

For Whaley, the issue was less about privacy itself, and more about the trade-offs required to achieve it. "With bigger and bigger expanses of glass, shades and drapes start becoming more of a compromise," he says. "You’re recessing them into soffits, coordinating across trades, trying to get them out of the way visually… and they still block daylight."

Even motorized systems, while more streamlined, can introduce delays and mechanical elements that interrupt the experience. CLiC was designed to remove those layers entirely.

In privacy mode, the glass diffuses incoming light rather than blocking it, allowing interiors to remain bright. "You’re not choosing between being on display and having daylight," Whaley says. "You can have the best of both worlds."

CLiC feels as much like a design innovation as it does a technical one. How did you approach balancing performance with aesthetics from the very beginning?

Balancing performance with aesthetics was a core principle from the start. Cardinal’s development process centers on reliability, durability, and visual quality, and CLiC was designed within those same parameters. 

"It had to meet the homeowner's aesthetics," Whaley says. "When they’re looking out their window, it can’t get in the way of the view outside. It can’t be a distraction." 

This was particularly important given the perception of earlier privacy glass systems, which often appeared hazy or slightly opaque especially when viewed from an angle. "A lot of people have seen something similar, but they haven’t seen CLiC yet," adds Whaley.

Ease of use was also prioritized early in development. Because CLiC represents an entry point into smart window technology, it needed to be intuitive across a wide range of users. "It has to work with whatever home automation system people have," Whaley says. "But it also has to be simple enough that if someone just wants a switch on the wall, that’s enough."

How did Cardinal Glass’s legacy and expertise shape the development of CLiC?

CLiC was not developed as a standalone experiment. "Cardinal started in 1962," Whaley says. "We’ve watched design trends evolve toward bigger glass, more light, and more connection to the outdoors."

That long view helped inform both the problem and the solution. As homes became more open, privacy solutions struggled to keep up both aesthetically and structurally. CLiC was developed in response to that shift, but also because Cardinal had the technical depth to approach it differently.

"We’re vertically integrated, so we go all the way from raw glass to coatings to lamination and finally the insulating units in the windows themselves," Whaley explains. "We really leaned on every one of our divisions for this." That level of control allowed the team to refine the product at every stage. It also contributed to a longer but worthwhile development cycle.

"If we’re putting something into homes, it has to last," Whaley says. "That reliability piece isn’t optional."

"Unmatched clarity" is central to the CLiC experience. What goes into achieving that level of optical precision?

Achieving clarity required rethinking how privacy glass systems were constructed. Traditional systems rely on films and polymer layers that can introduce haze and reduce visual sharpness, with liquid crystal and polymer positioned between the layers. "The liquid crystal part is good," Whaley says. "The problem was everything around it."

Cardinal’s approach was to retain the functional benefits of liquid crystal technology while minimizing the materials that interfere with clarity. "We asked, how can we do this without the polymer and without the film?" says Whaley.

A new formulation of liquid crystal was applied directly to the glass, reducing polymer content significantly. Combined with precise control over glass flatness and coatings, the system maintains clarity that aligns with residential design expectations. 

For someone experiencing CLiC for the first time, what’s actually happening within the glass when it transitions from clear to private?

At a technical level, the transition is based on how liquid crystals respond to an electrical field. Without the presence of an electrical field, the crystals are randomly oriented, scattering light and creating a diffused, private appearance while still letting daylight in. When an electrical signal is applied, they align, allowing light to pass through and providing a clear view to the outside. In the clear mode, CLiC looks like any other window in the home.

For the homeowner, the experience is defined less by the mechanism and more by the immediacy. "You want confidence in a privacy product," Whaley says. "If you hit a button and then you’re waiting, that uncertainty changes the experience."

That’s why speed was a key consideration. CLiC responds almost instantly and does so silently, without mechanical movement.

CLiC delivers more than privacy: UV protection, energy efficiency, and noise reduction are built in. How did you decide which additional benefits to prioritize?

Some of these benefits were part of the original design priorities, while others emerged naturally through the engineering process. "Liquid crystal is very sensitive to UV light," Whaley says, which made UV protection essential for long-term durability. The laminated construction, designed for strength and resilience, also contributes to sound reduction and impact resistance.

"When you stack those layers together, all these other benefits come along for the ride," he adds.

From your perspective, how is CLiC changing the way architects and designers think about space, light, and privacy?

As residential design continues to prioritize natural light and openness, privacy has remained an ongoing constraint. "Architects have always had that trade-off in the back of their mind," Whaley says.

Large glass openings create strong visual connections during the day, but can feel exposed at night: "As soon as the sun sets and lights turn on, you’re on display."

CLiC allows those same spaces to adapt, providing privacy when needed without compromising the original design intent. In that sense, the technology doesn’t change the direction of residential design. Rather, it supports it, allowing architects and homeowners to move forward without the same tradeoff they were used to before. 

Learn more at clicglass.com