Looking Out the Window, Act I
Preah Khan Temple, Angkor, Cambodia, superciliousness via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
We've had a lot of questions come our way regarding our Palladian post. Funny thing is,
all the chatter was about the Palladian window, and not the architect! Actually, people asked about the different styles of windows and wanted to know how long the window has been around. It's a tough call trying to give the window a definite age. Openings of some sort have been built into architecture for thousands of years for ventilation, but to qualify as windows - well, we've picked images of two of the oldest ones that are still pretty much intact. The picture on the left comes from the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo. The window dates to around 879 A.D. and has a lattice screen to diffuse the sun, allow for privacy and still provide air circulation. The other image comes from the Preah Khan Temple in Angkor, Cambodia. Built in the 12th century, the windows were a revolutionary design device at a time when most openings were doorways or columned and arched arcades.
France, Dimitry B via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
Lets face it, when most of us think about the window, we think glass. The Romans and
Egyptians played with glass in wall openings, but they used small pieces usually embedded in a plaster of some sort. The advances in science, technology and artistry that produced the window that is very familiar to us, appeared on the scene in France in the 12th and 13th centuries. The cathedrals at Reims and Chartres have some of the oldest, and most beautiful windows in the world, that set a standard which has lasted for 900 years.
24gotham via flickr; Ground floor, Seagram Building, New York, Daveybot via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
Most homes in the mid-17th century had very few window openings punched into walls
because they let in too much heat in summer and cold in winter. Glass was expensive, so most windows had wood shutters which closed to keep the elements out, or opened to let in fresh air. But, a few people could afford the expense of having glass installed in a few small openings built into their walls. The Arnold House, built in 1687, (the image at the far left) gives you an idea of the scale of a typical 17th century window in relation to the house. By the 19th century, architects were able to use the latest in steel and glass technology to create larger and larger openings which let in more light and air. The middle picture is the window wall of the Carson, Pirie, Scott Building in Chicago. Designed by Louis Sullivan in 1902, the "Chicago window" became one of the most common windows used in commercial and residential construction for decades. When glass producers started manufacturing sheets of almost limitless size in the 1950s, architects like Mies van der Rohe created openings in the Seagram Building that would have been unthinkable 20 years before.
We could write an entire series on the window, but for now, this will do. Tomorrow we'll give
you a few examples of window types and answer some of your questions about basic window terminology.
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