Issue 01, Summer 2026
Two sisters in Wuchang took the wall unit down. This July they slept with the curtains open.
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Illustrative portrait. Demo interview.
Zhou Jianguo and Fang Lihua spent thirty Wuhan winters beside a heater. Last November the heater went.
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Illustrative portrait. Demo interview.
Forty square metres, nothing on the ceiling
Designer Xu Hang on a Hankou studio flat where the only thing on the wall is a panel he placed with masking tape.
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Illustrative portrait. Demo interview.
Issue 01, Summer 2026 p. 3
This issue visits three homes in Wuhan that are heated and cooled by their walls. Nothing blows at anyone, nothing hums indoors, and the remote stays in the drawer. The people are illustrative and the interviews are demo, written to show how a room with GLN panels feels.
p. 8 At home in Wuchang
Liu Wen and her sister Liu Qing share a third-floor flat in Wuchang with a west-facing bedroom and a cat called Doufu. Last spring they had the wall unit taken down and one GLN panel put up.
When the afternoon sun reaches the west wall, the bedroom used to go from warm to hot in about an hour. The sisters would close the curtains, switch the wall unit on and wait for its noise to fade into the background. It never quite did.
This summer the room has one panel on the wall facing the bed: 600 by 1800 millimetres, 90 millimetres deep, in a finish called Chalk. The curtains stay open. We talked in the bedroom at four in the afternoon, the hottest hour, with Doufu asleep on the floor between us.
What was summer like before?
Liu Wen Loud, and cold in the wrong places. The unit blew straight across the bed, so one of us always had a draft on her neck. We’d switch it off at two in the morning and wake up hot at five.
And now?
Liu Wen The room is cool, but nothing is moving. It feels like standing in the shade of a building rather than in front of an open fridge.
Did you have to learn new habits?
Liu Qing Only to stop fiddling. The installer showed us the numbers: with the air at 27 degrees and the walls at about 22, the room feels like 24 or 25. We set it once in June.
What changed for Doufu?
Liu Qing She used to sleep under the bed when the unit was running. Now she sleeps in the middle of the floor every afternoon, flat out, in the patch of sun.
Where do the pipes go?
Liu Wen We asked that first. They come down inside the wall from the ceiling and join the panel with one fitting. From the bed you can’t see any of it.
Anything you miss?
Liu Qing The remote. We used to argue over it. Now there’s nothing to argue about.
p. 18 At home in Hanyang
Wuhan has no district heating, and its winters are damp and grey. Zhou Jianguo, 74, and Fang Lihua, 71, spent thirty of them next to an electric heater in their Hanyang flat. Last November they had three panels fitted.
The flat has the same bookcase, the same armchair and the same view of the river it had in 1994. What changed is on the walls: two panels in the living room, one in the bedroom, and no heater humming in the corner.
Both taught mathematics at the same middle school for thirty years, and they still check each other’s numbers. Mr Zhou keeps a notebook of thermostat readings. Mrs Fang keeps him honest.
How did you keep warm before?
Fang Lihua An oil heater in the bedroom and the air conditioner on heat in the living room. It blew hot air at your face while your feet stayed cold. By the evening the air felt dry, and I kept a bowl of water next to the heater out of habit.
What does the room feel like now?
Zhou Jianguo Even. The walls are warm, the chair is warm, and there’s no hot wind. I read in the armchair until ten and don’t reach for the blanket.
What does the notebook say?
Zhou Jianguo The thermostat reads 19. The walls are about 24. The engineer says that feels like 21 or 22, and my feet agree.
Is it quiet?
Fang Lihua There’s no fan in the panels and no compressor indoors. The machine that does the work sits outside on the balcony. At night the flat is quiet enough to hear the clock again.
Any advice for other couples?
Fang Lihua Go and stand next to one in winter before you decide. I didn’t believe our son until I did.
p. 26 At home in Hankou
Xu Hang, 29, designs packaging for tea brands. His studio flat in Hankou is one room and one window, and the only thing on the walls he didn’t choose for its looks is the panel. He chose that too.
Most small flats in Hankou have the same box above the window: white plastic, a louvre, a remote in a holder on the wall. Xu Hang’s has nothing there. The window frame runs clean to the ceiling.
The panel sits on the wall beside his desk, finished in Ink, 90 millimetres deep. He marked its position with masking tape and lived with the tape for a week before anyone drilled.
Why did the box above the window bother you?
Xu Hang In forty square metres, everything on the wall is furniture. The box was the one thing I couldn’t move, paint or hide, and it pointed at my desk.
What changed day to day?
Xu Hang Calls. I record voice-overs for client videos, and I used to switch the unit off before every take. There’s no fan and no compressor in the room now, so I just press record.
Does the panel take up space?
Xu Hang It’s 600 wide and comes 90 millimetres off the wall, which is less than my bookshelf. After the rug, it’s the flattest thing in the flat.
How does it look to a designer?
Xu Hang Like a piece of the wall with fins. In the morning the fins throw thin shadows across it. I like it more than I expected to.
Summer or winter?
Xu Hang Both, from the same panel. In July it cools the room; in January it warms it. Same wall, same quiet.
p. 34
One loop of water, four stops. Nothing blows at you.
An outdoor heat pump warms or cools water. It is the only part of the system with a compressor.
The water pipes come down inside the wall from the ceiling. They never show on the walls.
A single fitting joins the pipes to the panel, and the water runs through slim aluminium fins.
Walls, floor and furniture settle at the right temperature, and heat moves by radiation instead of by blowing air. No condensation water appears indoors.
Felt temperature is roughly the average of the air and the surfaces around you (ASHRAE 55, ISO 7730). Try it:
Air 27°C, walls 22°C Feels about 24.5°C
| Size | 600 × 1800 mm, 90 mm from wall to front edge |
|---|---|
| Fins | Aluminium |
| Cooling | About 420 W per panel |
| Heating | About 510 W per panel |
| Finishes | Chalk, Sand, Ink |
| Indoors | No fan, no compressor, no vents, no ducts |
p. 38
You wrote in; our engineers answered. Letters are edited demo questions.
Wang Min, Qingshan
GLN replies No. The water pipes come down inside the wall from the ceiling and join the panel with a single fitting. From the room you see the panel and nothing else.
Chen Jie, Jiang’an
GLN replies No condensation water appears indoors. Come to the showroom on a humid afternoon and spend some time in the summer room.
Hu Ping, Wuchang
GLN replies There is no fan in the panel and no compressor indoors. The compressor is in the outdoor heat pump. Inside, water moves through the panel, and that is all.
Li Na, Hongshan
GLN replies Yes. The heat pump outside switches between warming and cooling the water, and the same panels do both jobs.
Zhao Lei, Hanyang
GLN replies It depends on the room. Our example panel is 600 × 1800 mm and stands 90 mm from the wall. A bedroom often takes one and a living room two or three. We measure at the visit.
Deng Yu, Caidian
GLN replies That depends on your home, its insulation and how you use it, so we won’t print a number here. Bring a recent electricity bill to the showroom and we’ll estimate yours.
p. 42
The showroom in Wuchang has two rooms with panels running: one set to summer, one to winter. Stand in both, then decide.
GLN Showroom 68 Zhongbei Road, Wuchang, Wuhan
