Observation window
A small window on doors or walls designed for safety checks or monitoring.
Texts From Articles (25)
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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 light. Here is a recap of their contents. First, in “Light is…
28 Mar 2025
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Issue 13: Democracy Under Canopies (Fieldoffice Architects)
Democracy and freedom have now spread throughout Taiwan, a place where freedom was once heavily restricted. This is something one can feel even in their daily life. The people of Taiwan are unusually …
18 Nov 2024
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“Shoei Yoh: A Journey of Light” Symposium Report
On September 7, 2024, the symposium “Shoei Yoh: A Journey of Light” was held at the AIJ Hall (Architectural Institute of Japan, Tokyo). Centered around the theme of “light”, this event was organized a…
25 Feb 2025
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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 pine forest beside Suruga Bay is the Serizawa Literary Center…
25 Dec 2024
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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 Nagakute, Aichi, the campus was planned with consideration of e…
19 Jan 2024
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Windowless Buildings: Their Logic and Pathology
One characteristic element of the modernist architecture that emerged in the early twentieth century is the large window. That is, windows much larger as compared to those of traditional European maso…
04 Aug 2023
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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 series of interviews with four Danish architects in cooperation …
12 Jul 2023
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Issue 4: The Matsu Islands: Small Windows on the Frontier (Part 1)
The Matsu islands are located in northwest Taiwan, about as close to mainland China as you can get. It’s one of the farthest locations from Taiwan’s center, its sweet potato-shaped main is…
25 May 2022
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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 been involved in a wide range of projects, including the reno…
31 Mar 2022
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Issue 3: Where the Pavilions Went : Orchid Island (Part 2)
I left the village of Yeyin and took a trip around the island. Going on the road made me conscious of being in another land, but in a different way from mainland Taiwan, whether I encountered a pack o…
12 Jan 2022
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Nanpo Tometaro Shoten/Windows of the Smokehouse
Noriaki Nanpo’s Smokery in Yoichi, Hokkaido Prefecture. The facility mainly smokes shrimp, Indian salmon, scallops, and herring. There are generally three types of smoking techniques with different te…
03 Feb 2021
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Cinder Windows
Fenestration Observations is a series of window disquisitions by Matthew Fargo. In it, the translator of Genpei Akasegawaʼs Hyperart Thomasson probes the city for hidden and forgotten features of the …
05 Mar 2019
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Gordon Matta-Clark and Apertures
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo is currently featuring the exhibition Gordon Matta-Clark: Mutation in Space. Matta-Clark graduated from Cornell University, where he had majored in architectur…
17 Sep 2018
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Adobe Windows
Fenestration Observations is a series of window disquisitions by Matthew Fargo. In it, the translator of Genpei Akasegawaʼs Hyperart Thomasson probes the city for hidden and forgotten features of the …
23 Jan 2019
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America (3)
Development of Various Styles As settlers throughout America gained affluence, they developed a wide variety of housing styles, including the Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Vict…
16 Mar 2017
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Part 2: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto “Window Behaviorology”
Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (Architect, Atelier Bow-Wow) has conducted “Window Behaviorology”, an extensive field work on windows around the world, since he joined Windowology in 2007. In the seco…
13 Nov 2018
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Part 3 Shokatei at Katsura Imperial Villa
Members of the Imperial Family were the first to enjoy the luxury of tea, a valuable item at that time, before the art of the tea ceremony was established by Rikyu. They built tearooms called kizoku-g…
03 Oct 2018
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You Make a Better Window Than a Door
Fenestration Observations is a series of window disquisitions by Matthew Fargo. In it, the translator of Genpei Akasegawaʼs Hyperart Thomasson probes the city for hidden and forgotten features of the …
18 Jul 2018
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Architectural Ethnography, Part A
To commemorate the occasion of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia (May 26th-November 25th, 2018), the Window Research Institute caught up with Momoyo Kaijima, curato…
01 Jun 2018
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Takashi Homma + Alec Soth Thinking about Windows through Photography
Alec Soth, who has taken many photos of “windows” in various parts of the world, and Takashi Homma, who has speculated on the relationships between windows and photos. The two state-of-the-art photogr…
06 Jul 2016
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Part 2: Apertures for View
Apertures have many purposes of uses. They are used as light sources, as ventilation, and as portals through which people pass. In each of these examples, they are opened to allow some physical thing …
18 Oct 2017
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The Criminology of Windows
According to sociologist Georg Simmel, windows have two fundamental meanings. Firstly, they create a unilateral connection between the inside and outside. Secondly, they constitute a path that exists …
10 Dec 2019
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YKK AP Windowology 10th Anniversary Symposium: Windows Represent Civilization and Culture
Tuesday, October 3, 2017 @ Spiral Hall (Minato-ku, Tokyo) A 9-hour academic symposium centered on windows ,Featuring 27 participants from around the world, including architects, photographers, anthrop…
28 Sep 2017
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Windows and the Invisible Light
It seems as if an ever-increasing window society took hold in Japan sometime after the Meiji period. The expansion of glass windows to general housing complexes also began around the Taisho and early …
17 Jun 2019
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Vol. 0: Windows from the Perspective of Contrastive Etymology
Linguist Yasunari Ueda looks into the origins of words that mean “window” from around the world to explore the process through which the concepts of the word have expanded over the ages. We will start…
28 Mar 2018