ruminations about architecture and design

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

window

Not every office worker is lucky enough to have a window, or in many cases, an office. But a window is more than a source of light and air and information about the conditions outside. It is a "fifth" wall that serves to transform any space, no matter how mundane, into something that is naturalized and dimensionless. The psychological effect of a window cannot be quantified, but in nearly all circumstances, it is a positive feature.
It's also worth noting, and this picture serves as a good example of this concept, that a little bit of window can go a long way. The big sheets of glass that look good in magazine photographs or real estate brochures carry the dimensionless quality of a window too far.

1 comment:

  1. This my window. I'd like to point out that it is actually four time larger than this photo implies. There is a pane up above this one, and two more to the right that you can't see here. It may be 6' tall by 2.5' wide. It is south-facing, but at the end and bottom of an alleyway; I get direct sunlight for about 40 minutes a day in the middle of June. I am happy to have a window. However, true to modern office culture, it does not open.

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