Wood, Metal, and Glass House

We are proud that our Ithaca Style cable railing was selected for use on the world famous “wood and glass” house. The project was an addition to an American mid-century modern home. The original home was designed in the 1950’s by then owner and architect John Black Lee. For the addition, the client selected renowned Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma.

Kuma designed a floating, transparent structure supported by very thin steel columns. The home sits nearly 17 feet above the grade. The walls are a low E glass skin covering thin metal columns that support the roof. LED lit mesh screens make up the interior partitions. Transparency was a common design goal for the entire project. It was important the railing would be clean and minimalist with ultra thin railing posts and top rail. A cable railing was an obvious choice here. in the spirit of simplicity, hiding the base plates under the IPE decking was another important design goal. To achieve this, we mounted the railing base plates on sleepers beneath the deck surface. The thin steel top rail was pre-drilled and taped therefore the entire railing was erected prior to fitting the exotic wood decking around the posts. An “L shaped” single corner post was designed and fabricated by joining 2 1/2″ thick flat bars. We took great care welding and grinding to keep internal and external edges at a small radius, lending to the minimalist design. The entire railing was constructed from steel vs. aluminum for strength. This allowed the use of very slender members. The finish was a double powder coated bronze finish on both the railing posts and the metal top rail. Every effort was made to conceal hardware thoughout the project. The result is a beautiful addition that blends into the forest beyond. The railing provides maximum transparency affording the occupants a tree house like feel, and a sense of being fused with nature.