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…

Louvered window

A window with slats that tilt open and close together when operated by a handle. The slats can be adjusted for airflow while blocking outsid…

Jalousie window

A window with slats that tilt open together when operated by a handle. The slats can be adjusted for airflow while blocking outside views. T…

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…

Barred window

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

Mashrabiya

A wooden lattice window commonly found in traditional homes in the Islamic world. It is designed to block out direct sunlight and external v…

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

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…

Architecture in Motion

Architect YU Momoeda who is a long-time admirer of Shoei Yoh participated in the Find and Tell residency program of the Canadian Centre for …

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…

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

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…

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

After resuming his creative activities with his new firm Jean Prouvé Constructions Prouvé presented an alternative version of the béquille i…

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…

“Light is Light and Light”

The Archaeology of the Digital exhibition held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in 2013 served as a catalyst for reevaluating t…

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…

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

After being driven out of the Maxéville Factory in Nancy Prouvé was prepared to go into retirement at his self-built home. Yet he would begi…

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 …

A Home that Draws in Breezes from All Directions: The Fumiko Hayashi House

Fumiko Hayashi (1903–1951) a prominent Showa era writer established a new residence in Shimoochiai (present-day Nakai) Tokyo in 1941 amid a …

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…

Gerrit Rietveld – A sense of space

Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) is perhaps Holland’s best-known architect. His Schröder House in Utrecht from 1924 has achieved iconic status. I…

Chochikukyo

Virtual Tour

Located in the foothills of Mount Tennozan overlooking the headwaters of the Yodogawa River in Yamazaki Kyoto this residence is characterize…

Summer House in Karuizawa

Virtual Tour

Relocated to Karuizawa Taliesin in 1986 this distinctive butterfly-roofed building was originally designed as a summer house and studio base…

Fumiko Hayashi Residence

Virtual Tour

Built as two separate structures to comply with wartime restrictions that limited new residential constructions to a maximum floor area of 3…

Migishi Atelier

Virtual Tour

This early work of Japanese wooden modernist architecture was built for the painter couple Kotaro and Setsuko Migishi. Despite undergoing mu…

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

… established the Kiso-Sangaku Woodworking Shop founded his joint practice with his partner Makoto and continued engaging in activities infor…

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…

Folding windows

Folding windows consist of two or more hinge-connected panels that form a single door which can be folded away along the length of the openi…

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…

A Conversation with Johansen Skovsted Arkitekter

On the occasion of the “Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan” currently being held in Copenhagen we conducted a serie…

Komai House

Virtual Tour

This Spanish Mission-style house was designed with an emphasis on healthy living. It is characterized by red roofing tiles cream-colored wal…

Double Vision

Selecting “wallpaper” or organizing files on a “desktop” are now familiar acts that can either take place on our digital devices or in our l…

Alvar Aalto Living room of Mäntylä

This is the living room of a house designed for a senior engineer at the Tampella factory in Inkeroinen an area that thrived on the wood ind…

Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen’s Showcase windows of the Pohjola Insurance Building

This insurance company building located on a corner lot along Aleksanterinkatu in central Helsinki was designed by the national romanticist …

Issue 8: The Town of Floating Pigeon Lofts

Houses stand there dotting the farmland. Small huts sit above them in the sky. It’s a bit of a strange sight but one that you’ll…