Function, Construction and Form of Windows

Windows are the eyes of houses. Windows are very characteristic for architecture. Houses are some kind of a third skin of human beings. The inside design of houses is usually of private interest - the facades are part of public space and of public interest. At the window these interests come together, their is often a conflict. Windows let light into the buildings, allow the view from inside to the outside, keep animals, strangers but also noise, coldness, wind and rain outside, allow the exchange of air between inside and outside. New technical progress has changed the image of windows. How shall we handle with new forms of windows within historic buildings?

Usually the design of all componets of architecture belong together. For this reason the form of windows should usually not be changed. Nevertheless in many cases the owners want to modernize windows.

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fig. 1	fig. 2	fig. 3
fig. 4	fig. 4

Figures

Fig. 1
Inverness; the left half of the house has been modernized.

Fig. 2
Vienna; the new window design does no fit with the old - it is dominated by one horizontal transom, the old design by vertical dividing bars.

Fig. 3
Typical window of the 19th century.

Fig. 4
Typical surrounding of a window of the historistic period