Modern residential architecture could possibly be sensed as glass walls, however most houses of the ilk have smaller windows, rather than full window walls. Which leads to this question? Should a window be tall, wide square, fixed, operable? These concerns apply to all homes, but given the freedom that modern design affords, they are more of a concern with this style compared to other people. This ideabook deals with these questions by considering four projects recently posted to .
1. Vetter Denk’s Champion residence in Wisconsinhas an interesting mixture of tall windows and flat ones. The two overlap on the right side of the photo.
One intersection of wide and tall occurs in the dining room. The tall window contrasts with all the table and is flanked by sliding windows that allow natural ventilation. The flat window frames a vista for people eating at the table, but the tall window connects this perspective to the immediate foreground.
The opposing side of this Champion residence is partly bermed into the landscape. Here the window dominates.
Back in the dining room, we see the way the window functions together with the kitchen. The windows sit above the counter height and then turn the corner to attract lots of light into the space. The operable window sits in the front of the sink, giving a wonderful breeze to whoever must clean the pans.
Welch Forsman Associates
2. I am fascinated by this “Sixties Spiffed” project from Welch Forsman Associates, because of the perspective it appears fairly solid. Where are the windows?
Welch Forsman Associates
Many of the windows are in reality clerestories, located above the level of the brick wall in the previous photo. A skylight, visible above the island, helps you to bring daylight into the middle of the home. While the home isn’t confined to clerestory windows, they ring the home, developing a halo-like effect that links the many rooms.
Welch Forsman Associates
In the toilet the clerestory is very nice, since it brings in light while providing privacy.
Faust Construction
3. The Shepherds residence, made by 360 Architects, can be intriguing. At the rear patio the walls are mostly solid, save a small window upstairs and 2 narrow windows below. I am guessing the upstairs window functions a bedroom, since it’s operable. But what about downstairs?
Faust Construction
The 2 windows really visually connect the kitchen into the yard. In between the two windows is a solid wall that is used to get a large built-in refrigerator.
M+A Architecture Studio
4. The Gulf Coast Farmhouse, made by M+A Architecture Studio, comprises these 3 angled bays that are highlighted by different colors. Their regularity, and the fact that the home is to get a family with three kids, points into their serving bedrooms.
M+A Architecture Studio
In the living room inside, these rooms are evident throughout the bright colors’ “leaking” through clerestory windows.
M+A Architecture Studio
Past the bedroom is a stretch of wall that is punctured by different openings in a strange pattern that has to arise from inside issues.
M+A Architecture Studio
These windows serve the bathroom. One window is in the shower, a lengthy one sits large, one is facing one of those lavs, and one is even found below the counter, in a gap between cabinets. It is an interesting way of selectively bringing light into a space that frequently suffers from small to none.