Architecture
Modern Architecture
Modern Homes Embrace Mixed Views on Windows
Sure, there are walls of glass. But modern architecture affords the design freedom to have small, narrow and oddly shaped windows too
Modern residential architecture may be perceived as glass walls, but most houses of the ilk have smaller windows, rather than full window walls. Which leads to the question, Why one window versus another one? Should a window be tall, wide, narrow, square, fixed, operable? These questions apply to all residences, but given the freedom that modern design affords, they're more of a concern with this style than with others. This ideabook deals with these questions by looking at four projects recently posted to Houzz.
One intersection of wide and tall happens in the dining room. The tall window aligns with the dining table and is flanked by sliding windows that allow natural ventilation. The horizontal window frames a vista for people eating at the table, but the tall window connects this view to the immediate foreground.
2. I'm intrigued by this "Sixties Spiffed" project from Welch Forsman Associates, because from this view it looks pretty solid. Where are the windows?
Many of the windows are actually clerestories, located above the level of the brick wall in the previous photo. A skylight, visible above the island, helps to bring daylight to the center of the house. While the house is not limited to clerestory windows, they ring the house, creating a halo-like effect that links the various rooms.
In the bathroom the clerestory is particularly nice, because it brings in light while providing privacy.
3. The Shepherds residence, designed by 360 Architects, is also intriguing. At the back patio the walls are primarily solid, save a small window upstairs and two narrow windows below. I'm guessing the upstairs window serves a bedroom, because it's operable. But what about downstairs?
The two windows actually visually connect the kitchen to the yard. In between the two windows is a solid wall that is used for a large built-in refrigerator.
4. The Gulf Coast Farmhouse, designed by M+A Architecture Studio, includes these three angled bays that are highlighted by different colors. Their regularity, and the fact that the house is for a family with three kids, points to their serving bedrooms.
From the living space inside, these rooms are apparent through the bright colors' "leaking" through clerestory windows.
Beyond the last bedroom is a stretch of wall that is punctured by various openings in a strange pattern that must arise from interior concerns.
These windows serve the bathroom. One window is in the shower, a long one sits high, one is in front of one of the lavs, and one is even found below the counter, in a gap between cabinets. It's an interesting way of selectively bringing light into a space that often suffers from little to none.