Fixed window
A window with a fixed panel that does not open. It is mainly used for daylight, views, or safety in high-rise buildings where ventilation is not needed. Also called dead-light.
See also picture window.
Texts From Articles (102)
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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 organized a walking tour of notable windows across the city…
17 Dec 2024
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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 design flourished after the mass production of plate glass began …
11 Dec 2024
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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 Architecture (CCA), providing his readings of the archival…
19 Mar 2025
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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 introducing a selection of notably intriguing windows fo…
20 Mar 2025
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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 Architectural Institute of Japan. The event was held to cel…
26 Sep 2024
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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 Yoh’s early works, from his de facto debut project, …
22 Oct 2024
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The Ingot Coffee Shop: Building as a Mass of Glass
Tomo Inoue, a building construction expert engaged in efforts to digitally reconstruct Shoei Yoh’s works using 3D scanners, explains the novelty of the Ingot Coffee Shop, an early work of architecture…
04 Oct 2024
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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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A Conversation with Silke Langenberg
Silke Langenberg, Full Professor for Construction Heritage and Preservation in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich, has been conducting surveys of folk houses throughout Switzerland and explo…
25 Jul 2024
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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 in a project he had been working on concurrently with the V…
18 Jul 2024
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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 stated rate of around 1%. Though neighboring countries, their …
20 Jun 2024
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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 panel surfaces. Although I’ve since transitioned to making w…
22 Apr 2024
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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 entitled Apartment: Regarding walls and doors, or time and space. A…
25 Mar 2024
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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 archive to Kyushu University, where they are currently being cat…
21 Mar 2024
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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 begin developing new window designs again after reuniting with…
28 Mar 2024
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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 home and atelier of world-famous graphic designer Kiyoshi …
26 Apr 2024
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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 of Taiwan. It is Taiwan’s first Christian school fo…
04 Mar 2024
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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 introducing a selection of notably intriguing windows fo…
01 Feb 2024
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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. In fact, Rietveld built around 100 houses, and of these very …
27 Mar 2023
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Serizawa Literary Center (Serizawa Kojiro Memorial Museum)
Nestled within a coastal pine grove, this building, characterized by its four tower-like cores, was …
27 Feb 2025
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Aichi University of the Arts Lecture Building
This building extends 110 meters in the north-south direction, establishing a strong axis at the hea…
27 Feb 2025
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Migishi Atelier
This early work of Japanese wooden modernist architecture was built for the painter couple Kotaro an…
27 Feb 2025
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The Prince Karuizawa
This pondside hotel consists of a 126-meter-long arced accommodation wing and a public wing. Each gu…
27 Feb 2025
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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, formerly taught as a visiting professor at ETH Zurich a…
25 Jan 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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Nakagin Capsule Tower
The architectural movement of Metabolism arose in the 1960s, when Japan’s cities began to reemerge from the devastation of World War II. It was led by the critic Noboru Kawazoe, architects such as Kis…
22 Dec 2023
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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 the main building is composed simply of a thin, rhomboid hype…
12 Jan 2024
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Terunobu Fujimori│006: The Shitomi of the Kondo Hall at Ninnaji Temple
In this series, architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori, who has traveled extensively to study buildings of various times and places, will be introducing a selection of notably intriguing windows fo…
12 Sep 2023
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The Prince Karuizawa: The Materiality of Kiyoshi Seike’s Windows
The New Karuizawa Prince Hotel (now The Prince Karuizawa) built in 1982 was designed by Kiyoshi Seike. Seike is known as the architect of a number of Prince hotels locations, with Karuizawa being the …
12 Oct 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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KATONO House
Located on the outskirts of Sapporo, this single-story modernist building, constructed with weatheri…
27 Feb 2025
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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 living rooms. Through the screen’s interface, we gain access …
06 Jul 2023
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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 industry. An array of 20 square double-layered windows covers …
14 May 2024
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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 notice sooner or later if you live in rural Taiwan. ,Smal…
17 Aug 2023
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Thinking About Architecture from Their Windows
10 Jun 2014
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A Conversation with Christine Binswanger, Raúl Mera (Herzog & de Meuron)
Herzog & de Meuron, the Basel-based architectural duo, founded their firm in 1978 after studying architecture at ETH Zurich. They have since designed numerous prominent projects worldwide, such as…
24 May 2023
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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 introducing a selection of notably intriguing windows fo…
20 Feb 2023
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Arne JacobsenHarby Elementary School
The atrium hall with paintings on the wall in Harvey Elementary School on the island of Funen. Three windows which straddle the border between the roof and the wall take the northern skylight into the…
13 Jan 2023
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Conversation with EMI Architekten
Ron Edelaar, Elli Mosayebi, and Christian Inderbitzin founded EMI Architekten in Zurich in 2005. The office has developed a particular focus on housing and urban design in Switzerland through numerous…
15 Dec 2022
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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 places, will be introducing a selection of notably intrigu…
24 Aug 2022
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Issue 5: The Matsu Islands: Small Windows on the Frontier (Part 2)
The first morning of the new year arrived as I stayed in my room on the frontier, and I decided to survey the quiet guesthouse before my friends woke up. While the stonework building appeared to only …
20 Jul 2022
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Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Windows in New Mexico
At age 62, after living between New York City and New Mexico for many years, artist Georgia O’Keeffe made rural Northern New Mexico her permanent home. There, she lived between two adobe homes well in…
24 Jun 2022
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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 explain this series’ main purpose. This website has many…
18 Apr 2022
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Takamasa Yosizaka: A Window Looking Out on the Slope of a Mountain, For One to View the Scenery Below
Directing light into a room and letting in air are the major roles for window to play in making a living environment comfortable. Yet, there is also a type of window whose main purpose is to expose th…
31 Mar 2022
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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, Tokyo University of the Arts), YOSHIMURA was featured in NHK…
30 Mar 2022
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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 GROUP completed a partial renovation of its interior wall…
01 Apr 2022
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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 places, will be introducing a selection of notably intrigu…
24 Mar 2022
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The Yosuitei06/07 Shitajimado and Renjimado, 08 Nijiriguchi, 09/10 Shitajimado and Renjimado
06/07 Shitajimado and Renjimado Another instance where Enshu used his favorite combination of an upper shitajimado (exposed lath window) and lower renjimado (slatted window). This shitajimado has a w…
04 Dec 2021
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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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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 places, will be introducing a selection of notably intrigu…
09 Dec 2021
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Issue 2: The Buried Black Roofs : Orchid Island (Part 1)
While we may often speak of “Taiwanese people,” people belonging to a variety of ethnicities and religions live in Taiwan. While I flew to Taiwan’s main island for this installment, …
11 Nov 2021
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Windows of the Prouvé House｜Jean Prouvé’s Windows #2
The Prouvé House is an intriguing example of a building that was made by piecing together leftover parts from past projects. In the second article of this series, Shin Yokoo examines how Prouvé incorp…
22 Oct 2021
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Issue 1: Windows Visited by Spirits: Pingdong
After his experience on a journey through villages and folk houses in 11 Asian and Middle Eastern countries, Ryuki Taguma now lives in Yilan, located in northeast Taiwan, while practicing architectura…
14 Sep 2021
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Logging Railway Engine Shed/Window of the Former Forestry
This is a wooden one-story logging railway engine shed in the Historical Village of Hokkaido. The trains enter and leave from the double-opening wooden doors at the front. The doors can be fixed open …
07 May 2021
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A Conversation with Gion A. Caminada
Vrin is a village of fewer than 250 people nestled in a lush valley in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. It is also the home of architect Gion A. Caminada, who has designed many buildin…
15 Feb 2021
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Chapter 3: The viewfinder—transparency and voyeurism from Albrecht Dürer to Ai Weiwei
Every representational image ever made is necessarily a finite framing of the outside world, a viewfinder presenting only what the creator wants us to see. This finite point of view is configured insi…
08 Oct 2020
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Izumo Mingeishi Studio/Window of Drying Room
Windows of the drying room at a Japanese paper studio. To make Izumo folk-craft paper, the pressed paper is affixed to kiln-heated iron plates to dry. Near the window stands a brick kiln, on top of wh…
20 Jul 2020
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The Architecture of the Window
In addition to his design practice, the architect Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani has also cultivated a unique philosophical approach to the fields of architectural theory and history through his writings…
07 May 2020
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The Window: A Journey of Art and Architecture Through Windows at MOMAT, Tokyo
The Window Research Institute and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT) will be holding an exhibition titled The Window: A Journey of Art and Architecture Through Windows at MOMAT from Nove…
01 Nov 2019
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Casa Barragan
The window looking onto the inner garden of Louis Barragan’s house is divided into a large fixed window and a lattice window. The bottom left window is comprised of a glass door, an iron grille and a …
07 Aug 2017
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Goddards
The windows in the saloon of a house designed by Edwin Lutyens in the London suburb of Surrey. A great arch encloses an alcove around the fireplace. Inside the alcove, three fixed windows are installe…
21 Jun 2017
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Goddards
The windows in the dining room of a house designed by Edwin Lutyens in the London suburb of Surrey. Bay windows are repeated across the façade, creating a large aperture for the room, in which a long …
05 Jun 2017
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Hanok in Jeonju
The window of a house in Jeonju Hanok Village, installed beneath the house’s large, overhanging eaves. A fixed window is installed on the inside. Outside, a pair of folding wooden screens fitted with …
08 May 2017
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Hill House
…ating a small space within the large living room. Fixed windows and casement windows alternate on the front face, while two glass doors allow one to step into the garden. ,Hill House House / Glasgow, …
17 Apr 2017
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The Bauhaus and Its Influence in Japan
The Bauhaus, founded in 1919 in Weimar, Germany, laid the foundations for modern design with its innovative curriculum that embraced the abstract and constructivist trends of the time. Despite operati…
09 Jul 2021
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Dry-cured Ham Culatello in Zibello Village
At the beginning of November, I drove a car north from Parma and aimed for Zibello village. As I passed through the central Old City, I saw fields and houses scattered around. As I advanced the car fu…
28 Jan 2019
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“Placing” a Home: East Gilan, Iran (Part 1)
Iran was an unknown land to me before I visited it myself. My vague image of it had been of a desolate desert dotted with ancient remains. And so I was surprised to learn that Iran, like Japan, had ar…
14 Dec 2018
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Library of Aveiro University
A window in the library of Aveiro University, designed by Alvaro Siza. One can look through the large, horizontal fixed window in the reading room out to another opening on the outside that extends ve…
06 Mar 2017
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Vino Santo in Trentino
Drive a car east from Milan, go north through Verona and you will see the largest lake in Italy, Lake Garda. Continue running north along the lake and you will arrive in Trentino. This is a province l…
23 Oct 2018
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House for an Art Lover
A window of the restaurant in the House for an Art Lover designed in Glasgow by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It combines a fixed window with casement windows in a large but thin, semi-circular steel fra…
26 Jul 2018
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Garlic Window in Vessalico village
Lemon raised under the shining sun; cured ham aged in a rich flavor by growing mold; wine made from grapes raised under well-ventilated pergola. We can see architectures particular to each region with…
19 Jun 2018
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In New York: Windows and Looks
Since traveling to New York in the 1970s, artist Masao Gozu has spent over 40 years unveiling work that takes the window as its theme. His Bowery Street (Day ⇔ Night) series that captures New York’s i…
12 Jul 2018
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Mill Owner’s Association Building
Windows making up the wall of the eastern meeting room in the Mill Owner’s Association Building designed by Le Corbusier in Ahmedabad. The surface of the wall is divided into fixed windows and colorfu…
04 Apr 2018
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Via Altabella Toyshop
The window of a shop designed in Bologna by Carlo Scarpa. The window, which combines two circular shapes, is fixed to the façade from which it is carved with similarly shaped fasteners. The toyshop’s…
27 Feb 2018
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Floors and Floods: Siem Reap, Part 2
As I dug my bicycle’s tires into the sand, they first moved me unsteadily forward until at last they no longer could. I had not yet reached the lake, but before me sprawled a riverside community…
08 Feb 2018
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Window into Another Culture
Veneer House Project, a series of projects implemented by Hiroto Kobayashi Laboratory at Keio University SFC, propose prototypes of deployable architecture made of plywood veneer boards, a commonly us…
30 Jan 2018
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Osteria Baracco
The window of a restaurant in Porto Venere. The arched window is made of folding doors, the inside of which become display shelves for wine. Menu boards are fixed to the storm shutters, and the window…
23 Jan 2018
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Sunny Loggia House
Chie Konno(t e c o)”Sunny Loggia House” The 15th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2016 “En: art of nexus” is the theme of the Japan Pavilion at the 15th Intern…
27 May 2016
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Speedo’s Cafe
A cafe’s window facing a sloping road near Bondi Beach in Sydney, fitted with a combination of sliding windows and fixed windows. A counter is built into the window, where one can sit watching the bea…
14 Apr 2016
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Pleasure of Opening Windows
Part 3 of “The Joys of Making Windows”, the serial article by Hiroto Kobayashi Laboratory at Keio University SFC, introduces a project of making windows at an elementary school in the Democratic Repub…
21 Dec 2017
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Geoffrey Bawa’s Lunuganga 2
The windows in a guesthouse designed in Lunuganga by Geoffrey Bawa, in which a series of fixed windows are arranged. Outside, one can see a dense, green forest. ,Lunuganga 2 House/ Bentota, Sri Lanka …
01 Feb 2016
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Part 3: Apertures for Walking Through
One way to use an aperture is to pass physical things through it. In most cases apertures are installed at the border between an inside space and outside space. Through them people and things go in an…
15 Nov 2017
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Thinking about Windows through Photography
Contemporary photographer Takashi Homma held a conversation on the theme of “Thinking about Windows through Photography” with his long-time acquaintance, architect Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. The session sta…
17 Dec 2014
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Willow Tearooms
The windows of the Willow Tearooms designed in Glasgow by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The row of twenty-two fixed and double-swing windows makes a slight curve, creating a large opening onto the street…
28 Nov 2014
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La Medusa Ristorante
The windows of a restaurant in Porto Venere. A pair of outward-opening windows sits between fixed windows of the same size on either side, creating a set of four continuous windows. Planters are set b…
09 Oct 2015
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Zigolini’s Café
A café window facing the street in Paddington, Sydney. The entire façade becomes a single opening, one side of which serves as an entrance. The other side is divided into five folding doors on the top…
28 Nov 2014
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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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Hostal Vallarta
A window looking out onto an interior courtyard in a hotel in Guadalajara. The arch-shaped opening, made with inexpensive steel angles, is divided into a set of doors, a pair of pivoting casement wind…
28 Nov 2014
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Suleymaniye Camii
The window of a mosque in Istanbul. The space around the window becomes an alcove, into which people can enter. On the interior, a wooden door allows for the opening and closing of the alcove space. O…
10 Oct 2017
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Geoffrey Bawa’s Lunuganga
A window in the guesthouse of Lunuganga designed by Geoffrey Bawa. This bay window, raised on concrete pilotis, combines a series of small fixed windows with a row of wooden windows that open for vent…
28 Nov 2014
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High-rise condos and windows—from functionality to scenery—
The Attractiveness of A View Partial Ocean View, Ocean View, Ocean Front. If, upon hearing these words, you know what they are referring to, it is probably safe to say that you enjoy traveling. This i…
22 Aug 2019
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Spinnery Restaurant
A window in a restaurant in Bowness on Winderemere, which is famous for its lakes. A bench is built-in to the semi-circular window, called a bow window, in front of which are placed round tables. Stee…
26 May 2015
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Blackwell
A window in the Main Hall of a house designed by Baillie Scott in Bowness on Windermere. The bay window is built next to the fireplace, complete with a built-in bench facing the fire. The lintel and s…
11 May 2015
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Terunobu Fujimori “Holes”
Terunobu Fujimori has been producing highly original architecture that makes use of nature, such as wood, soil, and plants, as exemplified in his works including the Flying Mud Boat, Grass Roof, and M…
15 Jun 2021
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Steel House
…ide us senses of easy accessibility and openness. Fixed windows cannot be opened and thus give us a sense of closedness although they are transparent. In Japan, slide-to-open style is common for doors…
27 May 2016
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House at Komazawa Park
“En: art of nexus” is the theme of the Japan Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2016, one of the world’s largest modern architecture festivals. How are …
27 May 2016
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Cats, Fashion, and Windows
Madoka Hattori is the director of ilove.cat, an online magazine themed on cats and creators, and a freelance editor for honeyee.com and .fatale, two prominent online fashion magazines that define Toky…
25 Nov 2014
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Vol. 1: Windows in Japanese
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. Volume 1 in t…
24 Apr 2018
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Vol. 6 : Window Culture Studies—Towards Further Linguistic Explorations
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. In this final…
18 Dec 2018
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Window and Sharing (First Half)
Interviewed are now widely noted architects, Yuri Naruse and Jun Inokuma, who are well known for their project on the theme of “sharing.” The talk is centered on the role and enchantment as well as a …
24 May 2013
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Vol. 2: Windows in German
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. Following his…
27 Jun 2018