WINDOW RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Louis Kahn and the Power of Shadow

Does shadow have the power to give form to architecture? The increasing number of transparent buildings and LED installations enforces the i…

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

On 12 April 2024 to celebrate the publication of Swiss Window Journeys: Architectural Field Notes the Chair of Architectural Behaviorology o…

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…

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…

Shoei Yoh’s “Light Architecture”

Through this series “Shoei Yoh: A Journey of Light” we have compiled analyses of the work of architect Shoei Yoh focused on the theme of lig…

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

Architectural historian Yoshitake Doi who began teaching in Kyushu in the 1990s and witnessed firsthand as Fukuoka-based Shoei Yoh completed…

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

In this series architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori who has traveled extensively to study buildings of various times and places will be…

From Interiors to Non-Architecture

Architect and architectural history researcher Masaaki Iwamoto who has been leading the development of the Shoei Yoh Archive sheds light on …

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

Numazu Shizuoka—the birthplace of Kojiro Serizawa the author known for works such as Ningen no Unmei [The Fate of a Human]. Nestled in a pin…

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…

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…

A window with a memory

I’ve enjoyed drawing pictures ever since I was little and used to make paintings using my own hands and brushes to apply oil to canvas and p…

Windows: Overlapping and passing through

Why wasn’t it a window? I organized an exhibition called Medium and Dimension: Liminal and wrote a text for the exhibition catalogue entitle…

Why Norman Foster Scoops Daylight into his Buildings

Norman Foster known for blending art and science in architecture has led the field since the late 20th century. His designs balancing high-t…

Shoei Yoh: A Journey of Light—Introduction

Architect Shoei Yoh began his creative career as an interior designer in the 1970s. In 2019 he donated materials from his professional archi…

Windows of the Villejuif Temporary School｜Jean Prouvé’s Windows #3

…he Musée National d’Art Moderne’s collection housed at the Centre Pompidou. References Ecole A Villejuif Près De Paris L’Arch…

The Windows of Hiroshi Hara’s Awazu House: Spaces of Light Illuminating the Darkness

The Awazu House designed by Hiroshi Hara now searches for a path toward continuity. A number of masterpieces have been created here at this …

Issue 11: Joined Somewhere, Connected Throughout—Chen Chi-Kwan, Tunghai University Methodist Hall

The campus of Taiwan’s first private university Tunghai University stretches across the suburbs of Taichung a city in the center-west …

Terunobu Fujimori│007: The Shōji of the Rinshunkaku

In this series architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori who has traveled extensively to study buildings of various times and places will be…

A Conversation with François Charbonnet (Made in)

Made in is a highly acclaimed architecture firm that was founded in Geneva Switzerland in 2003. François Charbonnet one of its co-principals…

Windows of the Aichi University of the Artsby Junzo Yoshimura and Akio Okumura:The Concrete Science of Living with Nature

The Aichi University of the Arts was built to the designs of Junzo Yoshimura and Akio Okumura in 1966. Situated in the forested hills of Nag…

Issue 10: The Billowing School—Chen Ren-He, Wave Building, San Sin High School of Commerce and Home Economics (Kaohsiung)

When talking about the first generation of post-war Taiwanese architects there are famous individuals such as Wang Da-Hong who studied under…

Katsura Catholic Church

Completed in 1965 the Katsura Catholic Church in Kyoto is known as the only George Nakashima-designed building in Japan. The structure of th…

Terunobu Fujimori│006: The Shitomi of the Kondo Hall at Ninnaji Temple

In this series architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori who has trave…

The Prince Karuizawa: The Materiality of Kiyoshi Seike’s Windows

The New Karuizawa Prince Hotel (now The Prince Karuizawa) built in 198…

Issue 9: The Windy County Office—Yilan County Hall (Atelier Zo)

While this column has primarily introduced the windows of unnamed buildings in Taiwan there are a number of works of modern and contemporary…

Does light stop within window panes? – Yuriko Kurimoto’s Window

Since Kunié Sugiura wrote about windows in New York last time let’s start this article on the topic of the American windows that were …

Terunobu Fujimori│005: The Katōmado of the Shizutani School Auditorium: An Un-Japanese Japanese Window

In this series architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori who has trave…

The Experimental Design of the KATONO House in Sapporo

Known as an experimental work of modern architecture tailored for Hokkaido’s climate the KATONO House (Personal Residence) in Sapporo design…

A Conversation with Christine Binswanger, Raúl Mera (Herzog & de Meuron)

…ts worldwide such as the Tate Modern Prada Aoyama Epicenter and M+. Their accolades include the Pritzker Prize (2001) and RIBA Royal Gold Me…

Kunié Sugiura – My Window

…pe and freedom. The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York were packed with artworks I had seen before in textb…

Terunobu Fujimori | 004: The French Windows of the Glover House: Arrivals from India

In this series architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori who has traveled extensively to study buildings of various times and places will be…

Between Hatakeyama and Sugiura

Kokei and Jokei: Sights we see scenes we feel Whenever transparent glass is installed into buildings or trains or cars a boundary is establi…

The Divine Invasion: Aldo Rossi’s Windows without Glass

…in Architecture. Religion and Modern Architecture as a History of Idea…

Issue 6: Beckoning Qilous

Just about everyone in Taiwan eats similar food from the countless semi-outdoor dining halls there. The students all line up for newly opene…

Vol.1 Naoya Hatakeyama Mirrors or Windows?

… Photography at the Museum of Modern Art New York had organized an exhibition of notable photographic works in the United States spanning th…

Windows in the Tokunoshima, Amami Region: Boma Shimaguchi Dialect

Linguist Yasunari Ueda has been delving into the origins of words from around the world that mean “window” to understand how the concepts be…

Terunobu Fujimori | 003: The Vertical Sliding Windows of the Public Speaking Hall (Mita Enzetsukan)

In this series architectural historian and architect Terunobu Fujimori who has traveled extensively to study buildings of various times and …

Architecture with “Madosoto” at all times and in all places

Fushimi: Today as we begin our new series “Madosoto: Outside Scenery” we would like to discuss the scenery outside the window. First let me …

Junzo Yoshimura, Sonoda House: Sliding Glass Door Leading to the Garden and Waist-high Window Making a Space Somewhat Core to the Design

A room with a vague focal space During an exhibition of the work of YOSHIMURA Junzo (1908–1997) in 2005 (held at The University Art Museum T…

The Windows of the Migishi Atelier: Inheritance and Change

In October of last year (2021) the Migishi Atelier (Kamisaginomiya Nakano Tokyo) was opened to the public after the architecture collective …

Terunobu Fujimori｜ 002: The Diverse Openings of the Yosuitei’s Thirteen-Window Tearoom

In this series architectural historian and architect Terunobu Fujimori who has traveled extensively to study buildings of various times and …

A Conversation with Christ & Gantenbein

Christ & Gantenbein was formed in 1998 by Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein after graduating from ETH Zurich. To date they have be…

Terunobu Fujimori｜001: The Advent of Magical Light-Transmitting Surfaces, Glass Doors of the Hirano Residence

In this series architectural historian and architect Terunobu Fujimori who has traveled extensively to study buildings of various times and …

Windows of the Prouvé House｜Jean Prouvé’s Windows #2

…m as an “artisan/engineer” in Modern Architecture.2  However he may be…

Four Tectonic Features that Reside Within Prouvé’s Window Details

Jean Prouvé was originally a metalworker by trade but he became a leading modernist architect himself through collaborating with progressive…

Final Issue: Asia, Traveled through a Window

This will be the final installment of my four-year-long serialization documenting my eight-month-long trip. While I had decided where to go …

A Conversation with Peter Märkli

Peter Märkli one of Switzerland’s leading architects started his career after meeting his mentor the architect Rudolf Olgiati. In 1978 he es…