WINDOW RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Of Homes and Windows in the 20th Century: In Conversation with Ken Tadashi Oshima, the Curator of Living Modernity: Experiments in Housing, 1920s–1970s

In the twentieth century as waves of modernization swept across the globe the home became a site of architectural experimentation—an arena i…

Guillotine window

…is 1914 essay In The Cause of Architecture to critique double-hung windows arguing that their design ‘crushed poetic expression.’ See also d…

Clerestory (or clearstory) window

A row of windows placed high on the walls of churches cathedrals or other large buildings allowing natural light to enter from an elevated a…

Arch window

A window with an arched (curved) upper frame or opening. There are various shapes such as the semi-circular arched window and the pointed la…

Semi-circular arched window

A window with a rounded upper edge widely used in Romanesque and Renaissance architecture. See also arch window.

Barred window

A window fitted with exterior bars or grilles primarily intended for security and privacy. In traditional Japanese architecture these grille…

Oculus

A circular opening originating in ancient Roman architecture. Commonly found in Western classical buildings examples include the oculus at t…

Bull’s Eye Window

A small circular or elliptical window in Western architecture. It is commonly installed in attic spaces and dormer windows. Found in traditi…

Oxeye

A small circular or elliptical window in Western architecture. It is commonly installed in attic spaces and dormer windows. Found in traditi…

Diocletian window

A semicircular opening from ancient Roman architecture found in the upper sections of public baths. Typically divided into three sections it…

Thermal window

A semicircular opening from ancient Roman architecture found in the upper sections of public baths. Typically divided into three sections it…

Palladian window

A three-part window with a large central arch flanked by two smaller rectangular openings. Named after 16th-century architect Andrea Palladi…

Palladian motif

A three-part window with a large central arch flanked by two smaller rectangular openings. Named after 16th-century architect Andrea Palladi…

Serliana

A three-part window featuring a large central arch flanked by two smaller rectangular openings. Named after the 16th-century Italian archite…

Serlian motif

A three-part window featuring a large central arch flanked by two smaller rectangular openings. Named after the 16th-century Italian archite…

Venetian window

A three-part window featuring a large central arched opening flanked by two smaller rectangular openings. It was first described in detail b…

Tripartite window

A window with a large central opening flanked by two narrower side windows commonly found in Venetian Gothic and Palladian styles. It partic…

Cross window

A window with mullions and transoms forming a cross often seen in Gothic and Renaissance architecture. It is commonly paired with stained gl…

Squint

A small obliquely angled opening cut into the wall or pier of a medieval European church. Commonly found in Christian ecclesiastical archite…

Hagioscope

A small obliquely angled opening cut into the wall or pier of a medieval European church. Commonly found in Christian ecclesiastical archite…

Oriel Window

A type of bay window located on an upper floor commonly found in British architecture. See also bay window.

Splayed window

An opening with an angled internal dimension allows more light to enter. It is commonly observed in European historic architecture particula…

Horizontal window

A wide window introduced by Le Corbusier in his 1926-1927 “Five Points of Architecture” which later became a hallmark of modern …

Ribbon window

A wide window introduced by Le Corbusier in his 1926-1927 “Five Points of Architecture” which later became a hallmark of modern …

Leak window

A window commonly found in Islamic architecture and Chinese gardens featuring intricate openwork carvings across the entire frame. The gaps …

Louis Kahn and the Power of Shadow

…former director of the German Architecture Museum who curated the exhibition The Secret of the Shadow. Instead he used windows and doors in …

Swiss Window Journeys: A Conversation between Andrea Deplazes, Laurent Stalder, and Momoyo Kaijima

…ons such as Made in Tokyo Pet Architecture and Commonalities. She was the curator of the Japan Pavilion at the 16th International Architectu…

CCA-WRI Research Fellowship 2024

… with the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) offers the CCA-WRI Research Fellowship—a program that supports researchers selected through…

A Conversation with Leth & Gori

How do you create a house that can be maintenance-free for 50 years and last for at least 150 years? The Brick House designed by the Denmark…

Issue 14: A Window for Standing Still—Fieldoffice Architects, Paomagudao Park

This issue I’d like to introduce a park that I designed myself. Jiaoxi Yilan’s Paomagudao Park completed in 2021 was formerly th…

01│Antoni Gaudí: A “Sensible Architect”

Introduction The window is an extremely popular motif among architects. It would be natural to think that the possibilities for window desig…

Architecture in Motion

…am of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) providing his readings of the archival materials that Yoh donated to the Centre’s collectio…

Shoei Yoh’s “Light Architecture”

…er of the Canadian Centre for Architecture highlighted Yoh’s projects from the 1990s onward such as the Galaxy Toyama and Naiju Community Ce…

Shoei Yoh: Architecture of Light, the Real, and Monism

…ctions and then exposed them. Architecture fundamentally is about constructing certain ideals. Works of architecture are founded upon invent…

Issue 13: Democracy Under Canopies (Fieldoffice Architects)

Democracy and freedom have now spread throughout Taiwan a place where …

Terunobu Fujimori│008: The Ribbon Window of the Karuizawa Summer House—The Modernists’ Dream, Realized in Japan

…iha Kenchikukai [Secessionist Architecture Group] once shared a window-related anecdote with me during an interview: When we participated in…

“Shoei Yoh: A Journey of Light” Symposium to be held at the AIJ Hall on September 7, 2024

…hive. The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) also holds a selection of Yoh’s materials acquired following its 2013 exhibition Arch…

“Shoei Yoh: A Journey of Light” Symposium Report

…ll as the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA Montreal; supporter) which is also safeguarding a portion of Yoh’s archival materials in its…

Talk Event Report: Swiss Window Journeys Speakers: Momoyo Kaijima, Chie Konno, Fumiko Takahama, Mio Tsuneyama

On June 22 2024 (Saturday) the Swiss Window Journeys – Swiss Windows and Architecture talk event was held in the Architectural Hall of the A…

From Interiors to Non-Architecture

…d light spaces. Designing Non-Architecture The Ingot was an innovative building in that it was the first in Japan to feature glass structura…

The Ingot Coffee Shop: Building as a Mass of Glass

…dered the origin of his later Architecture of Light series and Luminous Furniture pieces. At the time of this project the SSG system a still…

The Diversity of Windows in Kiyonori Kikutake’s Serizawa Literary Center (Serizawa Kojiro Memorial Museum)

…achi [The Theory of Metabolic Architecture: Ka Kata Katachi] (Shokokusha 1969). This building may not particularly stand out when placed alo…

A Culmination of Sutemi Horiguchi’s Aperture Designs: The Tokoname City Municipal Ceramics Research Institute (Tokoname Tounomori Research Institute)

…e National Archives of Modern Architecture of the Agency for Cultural …

The Windows of Tomoya Masuda’s Naruto Cultural Center: A Faintly Bright Louvered Space

The Naruto Cultural Center is a posthumous work by architect Tomoya Masuda. It is one of several buildings that the former Kyoto University …

The Windows of the Diffendorfer Memorial Hall and University Chapel at the International Christian University (ICU): Preserving, Passing On, And…

The International Christian University’s campus plan was originally designed by W. M. Vories & Co. and later developed by Antonin Raymon…

A Conversation with Silke Langenberg

Silke Langenberg Full Professor for Construction Heritage and Preservation in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich has been conducti…

The Windows of the Cachat Buvette in Evian｜Jean Prouvé’s Windows #4

… source Cachat Évian” L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui no. 75 (1957): 52–53. Franz Graf and Giulia Marino La buvette d’É…

Issue 12: A Small Church for the Indigenous (Taitung)

It’s said that Christians now constitute around 7% of Taiwan’s population a rather high proportion compared to Japan’s sta…