Windowology

In its English etymology, a window is a “wind-eye“, a closure against wind and an opening for a view. But beyond its metaphoric label, the window is also a real mechanism with a frame, glass, a lock, shutters, etc. These regulate the variable relationship between inside and outside, between a well-controlled interior environment and the natural surroundings. And inasmuch as the window mechanism can suspend this relationship, it can maintain its reversibility. Windows therefore more than simply delimit inside and outside – they are thresholds that direct views, control climate or ensure privacy.

The research project examines the different devices and apparatuses that articulate the window as spatial, functional or social threshold. Starting from the various patents that trace the modern history of the window from the nineteenth century to today, the research will especially focus on the relation between mechanism, architectural space and user. Taking the window as a case study, the project seeks to understand the intersection of new paradigms in architecture with the profound changes in technology and society in the Modern period.

The preliminary research was funded by the YKK Group in Tokyo. First results were presented in a symposium at ETH Zurich in 2017. The research is conducted in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, professor emeritus of the History of Urban Design, the Chair of Architecture and Building Systems, Prof. Dr. Arno Schlüter, and the Chair of Architecture and Art, Prof. Karin Sander.