On this project we collaborated with Bozeman glass artist Richard Parish to build two custom pieces for the chapel inside of the newly built Denver Children’s Hospital. The cherry altar integrates Richard’s beautiful fused glass panels which are lighted from inside the cabinet. The lighted glass couples nicely with the lighted glass of the matching torchere , which is adjacent to the altar. Fused glass panels in the walls of the chapel allow light from nearby windows to enter and illuminate the chapel, re-creating the traditional stained glass atmosphere of a church.
The torchere was an interesting project. The solid cherry base has a 3/4″ thick piece of plate steel recessed into the bottom of it for ballast. The four pieces of solid vertical steel bolt to the lower steel base and another recessed steel plate at the top. Also concealed in the base are two small, opposing drawers which house the battery packs and a circuit board that control the LED light inside the fused glass “flame” of the torch. The circuit board controls the light through a small wire running up the center to a hidden sensor, telling the bulb when it is dark enough to turn on.
