Volume 38, Issue 5, May 2003

NewsNow

Shower Power: BEMA Announces 
Winners of its 2002 Design Awards

The Bath Enclosure Manufacturers Association (BEMA) Design Awards were presented on March 13 at BEMA’s annual meeting, which took place in Atlanta. Two winning awards emerged from the 47 contestants during the seventh year of the competition. This year’s program was co-sponsored by BEMA and Comet Bathroom Cleaner. 

Entries were categorized by glass size—under 3/8-inch glass and 3/8-inch glass and larger. Three entries were sent in for the under 3/8-inch category; 44 for the over. 

Designs ranged from the elaborate, which featured characteristics such as obscure glass, curved glass and even massive pieces of glass to create some enclosures bigger than some bathrooms. For others, simplicity was key as the designs featured clean, straight lines accented with complimentary hardware. 

Winners were Paul Snyder of Architectural Glass Arts, Truly Frameless®, of Miami in the over 3/8-inch category and John Veras of Duschqueen Inc. of Wyckoff, N.J., in the under 3/8-inch.

Glass Over 3/8-Inch 
Snyder, who is BEMA’s first repeat winner (he won last year’s competition for installations over $1,500) said his winning enclosure was really one on which he took a chance.

“I didn’t expect that one to take the award,” he said. “It’s not as flashy as some of the others. ”

The entry was an arched door on the center of a 5-inch wide curb with an arched opening, something that Snyder said was uncommon to see. He explained that arched doors can usually open only one way, and in order to be code-compliant they have to open out. However, the client wanted the door to open in. To meet these criteria, Snyder made a double-swing door.

Snyder said creating such a door was challenging due to the geometry involved.

“You could do a rectangle in an arched door, but it wouldn’t look so good. We had to complement the architecture.” Snyder said. 

Glass Under 3/8-Inch
Veras’ installation was made of bent, tempered, ¼-inch glass as well as bent, solid brass, nickel-plated extrusions. The unit is completely tight and incorporates “through-the-glass” plumbing.

According to Veras’ statement as recorded on the BEMA website, “It was extremely difficult to coordinate all the different radii among the various materials and shapes. We decided to bend the glass first, and then bend the various extrusions to match. Once bent, the extrusions had to be polished and plated.” 

USG