239 Small Panes**

. . . this pattern gives the glazing for the windows in Interior Windows(194), Natural Doors and Windows (221), Windows Which Open Wide (236), and Solid Doors With Glass(237)In most cases, the glazing can be built as a continuation of the Frames as Thickened Edges (225).

When plate glass windows became possible, people thought that they would put us more directly in touch with nature. In fact, they do the opposite.

They alienate us from the view. The smaller the windows are, and the smaller the panes are, the more intensely windows help connect us with what is on the other side.

This is an important paradox. The clear plate window seems as though it ought to bring nature closer to us, just because it seems to be more like an opening, more like the air. But, in fact, our contact with the view, our contact with the things we see through windows is affected by the way the window frames them. When we consider a window as an eye through which to see a view, we must recognize that it is the extent to which the window frames the view, that increases the view, increases its intensity, increases its variety, even increases the number of views we seem to see - and it is because of this that windows which are broken into smaller windows, and windows which are filled with tiny panes, put us so intimately in touch with what is on the other side. It is because they create far more frames: and it is the multitude of frames which makes the view.

Thomas Markus, who has studied windows extensively, has arrived at the same conclusion: windows which are broken up make for more interesting views. ("The Function of Windows A Reappraisal," Building Science, Vol. 2, 1967, pp. 101-4). He points out that small and narrow windows afford different views from different positions in the room, while the view tends to be the same through large windows or horizontal ones. We believe that the same thing, almost exactly, happens within the window frame itself. The following picture shows a simple landscape, broken up as it might be by six panes. Instead of one view, we see six views. The view becomes alive because the small panes make it so.

 

Six views.

Another argument for small panes: Modern architecture and building have deliberately tried to make windows less like windows and more as though there was nothing between you and the outdoors. Yet this entirely contradicts the nature of windows. It is the function of windows to offer a view and provide a relationship to the outside, true. But this does not mean that they should not at the same time, like the walls and roof, give you a sense of protection and shelter from the outside. It is uncomfortable to feel that there is nothing between you and the outside, when in fact you are inside a building. It is the nature of windows to give you a relationship to the outside and at the same time give a sense of enclosure.

 

Small panes in Mendocino.

Not only that. Big areas of clear glass arc sometimes even dangerous. People walk into plate glass windows, because they look like air. By comparison, windows with small panes give a clear functional message - the frames of the panes definitely tell you that something is there separating you from the outside. And they help to create Filtered Light (238).

Therefore:

Solution:

In certain cases you may want to make the small panes even finer near the window edge, to filter the light around the upper edge of windows which stand out against the sky - Filtered Light (238). As for the muntins, they can be made from the same materials as trim - Half-Inch Trim (240). . . .

A Pattern Language is published by Oxford University Press, Copyright Christopher Alexander, 1977.