Architectural design and creativity have always been hampered by mechanical limitations.

There are two ways to react. First, you can accept the limitations and design within the convention. There’s hardly any shame in that. It’s 99 percent of good, responsible design.

But it can be frustrating to accept “it’s not done that way” or “it can’t be done” all the time. Which leads to the second approach, which starts with thinking of solutions that turn “can’t” into “can.”

When it comes to incorporating a luxury gas fireplace into a design, there are spaces in a structure where an installation simply won’t work. However, because Ortal engineers decided to take the second approach, you now have far greater design flexibility. As a result, it’s now possible for architects and designers to install luxury fireplaces in apartments, upstairs rooms, any room in a multi-level home, and other locations that were once off limits. Power venting is almost always the preferred solution in multifamily buildings. Power vent also allows a 90-degree elbow right off the top of the fireplace, allowing for “short chase” designs that allow a window right above the fireplace. This feature also allows a fireplace to be designed like a continuation of built-in furniture.

Luxury gas fireplaces do more than just look fabulous, they also have the benefits of being safer and giving you more design freedom. Unlike traditional wood-burning fireplaces that could allow combustion gases to enter indoor spaces, direct vent gas fireplaces have a sealed combustion system that expels exhaust outside. The combustion air is also drawn directly from the outdoors, and a sealed glass front isolates the entire direct vent fireplace system from the interior spaces.