Commercial Picture Windows Frame Lake Erie Views at a Cleveland Hospice Care Center

Lake Erie lies just past the end of East 185th Street, and the hospice care and community center built there was planned with the water in mind. The single-story, 32-bed facility serves patients, families and caregivers, and the design called for a calm, welcoming setting with the lake in view. 

That intent shaped the window and door package. The project team selected Pella® Impervia® fiberglass picture windows and Pella® Reserve™ — Contemporary wood doors, which give the exterior its clean, modern lines and keep the views open to the people inside. The products also had to stand up to a lakefront site for the long term. 

The owner set three requirements for the window and door package: energy efficiency, durability and a consistent color and style across the exterior. On energy, the owner wanted a package that would perform well while keeping the lake open to view for patients, families and staff. 

Durability led the team to fiberglass. The Impervia® picture windows were selected for their long-term durability and their fit with the lakefront setting. 

For a consistent exterior, the team paired the windows with Reserve™ — Contemporary outswing doors. The windows and doors come from two different Pella product lines, but on the finished building they read as one modern composition. 

The fiberglass picture windows are fixed units with no operating sash, so nothing interrupts the glass between the interior and the lake. In a single-story building, every room sits at the same level elative to the shoreline, and each of these windows functions as a clear view to the water. 

Pella® Reserve™ — Contemporary outswing doors round out the package. Their slim, square-edged profile lines up with the fixed fiberglass units around them, and together they give the building the consistent color and style the owner asked for.

Each of the owner’s three requirements maps to a specific part of the package. Durability on a lakefront site pointed the team to the fiberglass frames of the Impervia® picture windows. The consistent color and style came from pairing those windows with Reserve™ — Contemporary outswing doors across the exterior. Energy efficiency had to be met without giving up the views, and with fixed picture windows, the glass stays open to the water. 

At the end of East 185th Street, those windows look out on the lake the facility was planned around.