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How Much Does Smart Glass Cost?

Smart Glass is reimagining interior design: helping to create beautiful, highly functional residential spaces. In short, it can transform your home. However, before investing in Smart Glass, you probably want to know exactly what it is—and how much it costs.

 

What is Smart Glass?

Smart Glass comes in many forms, but in short, it is glass that changes opacity when it comes into contact with electricity, light, or heat. Despite having a wide range of variations, it does have two main forms, Smart Film, where the Switchable PDLC technology is manufactured with an adhesive layer or ready for installation or as a Smart Glass Solution, where the switchable layer is bonded to a toughened piece of glass or encased between multiple layers of surrounding glass. 

This glass is coated with a layer of liquid crystal molecules, which are randomly orientated when there’s no current passing through the window – this is when it will be opaque. When an electrical charge is applied, the molecules all line up—allowing light to beam through, rendering the glass completely clear.

Smart Glass also known as Electric Glass, allows you to alter the amount of light that your glass allows through. For example, your conservatory could be perfectly clear during the day but if you want a bit more privacy in the evening, you can change it to opaque.

Smart Glass technology allows homeowners to balance conflicting demands: giving you privacy and energy conservation without forfeiting your view or the necessity of natural light.

 

What are the different types of Smart Glass?

There are several different types of Smart Glass, the most popular of which being Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal Glass (PDLC). This technology is used solely throughout our switchable product range, when no voltage is applied it appears translucent or ‘frosted’ and with an electrical signal applied it allows light to pass through appearing transparent.

 

Other types of competing Smart Glass technologies include Electrochromic Glass, which requires electricity to function and has a distinctive grey tint, used primarily to aid the reduction in solar heat gain. Similarly, Photochromic Glass and Thermochromic Glass are also used to reduce solar radiation but instead use non-electrical stimuli such as heat and light to guide their transitions, also appearing to have a grey tint when they reach certain temperatures or light levels. 

When it comes to our own products, we have a range of solutions on offer, including specialist options like Curved and Sound Insulating Smart Glass but our most popular products include:

  • Laminated Switchable Smart Glass: Panels can be positioned side by side without the need for any vertical frames, making this the ideal choice for glass walls and partitions. The switchable inter-layer is bonded between two sheets of glass, therefore making it a safe and durable option, used frequently in bathroom applications and high traffic areas.
  • Toughened Switchable Smart Glass: Our switchable optical layer is factory-coated onto any type or thickness of glass. Due to the PDLC layer being directly coated onto the glass, it provides optimum clarity and performance, while not requiring any lengthy manufacturing process, making it ideal for time-critical projects that require a cost-effective solution.
  • Switchable Smart Glass Double Glazed Units (DGUs): These are manufactured by coating the PDLC switchable layer onto the inner surface of one panel of glass before being combined with a second panel to form a sealed unit. You can benefit from improved thermal performance as well as immediate control over privacy and security.

Switchable Film: This film can be manufactured either with a self-adhesive layer, so that it can be immediately applied to any clean, existing glass surface or as a non-adhesive smart film, used primarily for the manufacture of Laminated Switchable Smart Glass.

 

The benefits of smart glass

Smart glass benefits include the following: 

  • Instant Privacy
  • Uninterrupted Light transmittance
  • Versatility
  • Ease-of-use
  • Cutting-Edge Style

Smart Glass isn’t just a smart and stylish accessory—it can also be an astute investment. For starters, if you live in a fairly built-up residential area, then smart glass can give you some much-needed privacy at the click of a button. You can even use it internally, such as if you want to create a bit more privacy within an en-suite bathroom.

What’s more, if you want to control the amount of light in your room (for example, if you’re about to sit down for a film and want to create a dark atmosphere), then simply make the windows opaque in a flash. 

It is also incredibly easy to use. Forget about messing around with installing (and drawing) blinds and curtains. Instead, embrace Smart Glass. 

 

The cost of Smart Glass

Installing Smart Glass into your home will always be done as a bespoke project. Every home is different, and your specific requirements will dictate how much you will need to pay. 

To understand how much Smart Glass may cost for an individual project on your home, please get in touch with us at Intelligent Glass today. We will review your request and respond to you as soon as possible with a personalised quote considering the size, complexity, and timeline of your project.

As a guide, you can also download our latest price list for digestible pricing reference for all of our residential customers.

Smart glass is here to stay. Transform your home: making it sleek, more modern, and more energy-efficient.

 

Interested?

If you want to find out more about our Smart Glass and Switchable Film products, get in touch via the form below or call us on +44(0)1226 351 759