windows...

What is a window….? If we ask someone to draw a window on a wall probably what we will get is a rectangular somewhere in the middle of another rectangular which will be the wall… maybe we get a circle if someone has been living on a ship in all his life…

So architects design spaces and openings to let the natural light come in. The word opening is more appropriate to use, but I feel that the word window come closer to our daily experiences. So I start with the question what is a window... to speak about openings.

Why do we like windows? Could be for many reasons… I will focus on two things which I believe have a determinative role in the interior atmosphere. The one is that through windows we communicate with the outer environment. They form a frame to view the exterior. So what we see is very important. The other thing is the way windows let the natural light come in. We say that natural light is desirable but sometimes the glaring can be unbearable. Curtains can do the work but what can we do with architecture?

At our last meeting Andre encouraged me to bring some ideas from my presentation as I progress my research… I think it would be interesting to blend those two things I mentioned above. Which is what we see and how can the light affect the interior atmosphere and sense of intimacy. One could affect the other in the way we organize the openings in a space.

But still… before I get there I have to start from the very initial questions, and find some answers to those, so the research has to go step by step to help me reach a solution and find some arguments for those.

The way we can analyze a space at a specific site is very complex. Even these two things I mentioned before... The communication with the exterior is affected by the location, climate, the adjacent surroundings that create the environment buildings or nature, the history of the place, memories, movements of people inside and outside of the space, smell and sounds.

For my research it would be interesting to choose a specific existing site and research possible ways to bring natural light in, but I am thinking I won’t. So what I have in mind is examine all these in an imaginary space which there I have less aspects to take into account and I will focus only on these two things I mentioned. So it will be an exercise.