Exploring ideas for a renovation of the National Hockey League’s corporate headquarters in New York, architectural firm The Phillips Group was quick to see the benefits of Ice, a fused architectural glass product from Vancouver’s Joel Berman Glass Studios. A natural for the project, Ice replicates the manner in which water freezes in layers, as on a traditional hockey pond. And so Joel Berman – a pioneer and innovator of techniques and styles in kiln-cast and fused glass for more than 25 years – was chosen to provide glass art for the project, including a sculpture of the Stanley Cup.
Berman’s version of Lord Stanley’s famous “holy grail of hockey” will stand seven feet high and three feet wide. Surrounding the sculpture will be a wall clad in stainless steel, embossed with the names of all the winning players in the cup’s long history. A space outside the executive boardroom will feature a bar servery, its top fashioned in Berman’s Ice – refrigerated, further adding to the icy theme and the overall coolness of the project. Tying together the design elements, a reception area will feature a transaction top in Ice.
“We’re excited to be creating glass art for the NHL,” says Winnipeg- born Berman, a lifelong hockey fan and longtime holder of season’s tickets to the Vancouver Canucks. “Glass is naturally like water in its cooled state, and in the way it forms layers similar to ice. It’s a perfect fit the league’s headquarters.”
