THE BUTTRESS STYLE SHOWER
The buttress style of shower has a glass panel supported in part by a half wall, most often sharing that wall with the bathtub. There are many variations of this style of shower. Shown here are a few illustrations of some of Whistler Glass’s approaches to this style of installation.
This buttress style shower shown on the left reatures a return panel in the back near the window to allow for a bench seat and extra natural light.
Click on the image to enlarge.
These images show another buttress style walk in shower. Note there are three pieces of glass: the door, the small side piece known as a ‘side lite’, and the “return” panel which shares a wall with the tub. Click on the thumbnails to see hardware details including the UC77 clamp and hinge.
The buttress style shower shown on the left features a side lite and return panel that extends to the ceiling (similar to the neo-angle highside design discussed in the Neo-Angle Shower section). Whistler Glass installed over 90 of these units in the Four Seasons Hotel in Whistler.
The image below is an excellent example of custom work. The glass enclosure exposes the fantastic tile work, and the half wall's irregular design is enhanced by ingenious glass cuts and hardware. Take special notice of the hardware used to stiffen and strengthen the main glass panel to enable it to hold the door - a rod that attaches to the panel just above the door hinge and then to the shower wall itself. This bar can multi-purpose as a towel rod.
There are many variations of the buttress-style shower.
This buttress style shower presented an interesting challenge because of the raised tile feature. One one side the tile is notched to accept the glass panel return. On the other, the door needed to be able to open and close so Whistler Glass cut the glass to match the curves of the tile.