Optik Glass Merges Safety, Style at Lancaster Country Day School
Request a QuoteWith a roster of 581 students, Lancaster Country Day School provides college-preparatory courses for students in preschool through 12th grade. When the private school began exploring building materials to support a $21 million renovation, HDI’s glass stair railing systems quickly became the clear choice for safety and style.
The resulting installation is a stair railing system that doubles as a smoke baffle, demonstrating how a building utility can be a design asset rather than an obstacle.
Application:
- Stair railing system
- Smoke baffle
Solution:
- Optik™ Boss
- Optik Shoe Railing
- Optik™ Smoke Baffle
Engineered for Safety
To create a system that serves as both a stair railing and smoke baffle at Lancaster Country Day, HDI looked to a combination of their popular Optik™ solutions. Optik™ Boss supports the side mounts on hallway balconies, while Optik™ Shoe is used for surface mounts on staircase stringers. The railing system’s glass infill panels are cut taller to serve a dual purpose as the smoke baffle, utilizing components of HDI’s Optik™ Smoke Baffle system.
HDI’s Optik Smoke Baffle employs an overhead glass curtain designed to restrict airflow and smoke movement along ceilings. This provides assistance to HVAC, smoke control, and sprinkler isolation.
The Optik Shoe system gives the appearance of a floating glass system. A stainless steel covered channel supports glass panels that are secured in place using a patented disc lock system. This innovative locking device allows panels to be aligned with one another for a continuous flat plane surface along the glass.
The Optik Boss railing system provides a minimalist alternative to the traditional glass shoe rail. Handrail brackets match the discreet stainless steel mounting hardware for a fully coordinated design.
Type 304 stainless steel with a 240-grain finish is featured as the railing base. A maple wood finish with clear coat on handrails complements Lancaster Country Day’s existing wood finish tables, doors, benches, and other design elements. The pairing of wood and polished steel is striking alongside the school’s slate gray stone stair treads.
The end result is a stair railing system that doesn’t impose on the facility’s light-filled lobby and hallways to achieve an open concept feel.
Smoke Mitigation Made Stylish
Completed in November 2017, Lancaster Country Day joins the list of new school builds that incorporate smoke baffles into the design for a more pleasing overall aesthetic.
Required in lobbies, atriums, open staircases, and other open indoor spaces, smoke baffles are typically glass channels that restrict smoke in the event of a fire. They serve a critical role in open spaces such as school hallways, preventing deadly smoke from spreading rapidly through a building in the event of a fire. Subsequently, smoke baffles or a smoke baffle system are a building code requirement when designing an open concept space.
“For their installation, it took a little more manpower to maneuver a panel,” said Derek Stambaugh, HDI Senior Project Manager, in reference to the baffle’s tall glass panels.
HDI’s railing systems are engineered to comply with existing building codes. Furthermore, HDI’s technical sales team has the experience and resources to plan your railing system with local building codes in mind. As evidenced at Lancaster Country Day, even a minimalist railing system can exceed buildings codes for safety.