Daylighting: Natural Light in Architecture

1. To assist with modern methods of production, the timber sections
   used for dividing the opening parts from the fixed glazed areas, tend to
   be heavy, interrupting the view out, particularly where they cross the
   sight lines of those inside.


2. Where glazing bars are required, between the different glazed areas
   they are often very heavy, and where in the Georgian window the
   detailing would have allowed the light to flow around the bar, reducing
   its apparent size, the modern glazing bar tends to create unsatisfactory
   shadows within and a barrier to the view, further reducing the amount of
   daylight available.


3. The use of splayed sides between the window and the wall, to
   balance the brightness of the window seen against the brightness of the
   interior of the room has almost been forgotten, a lesson learnt in our
   mediaeval churches, and which is equally relevant today; the use of the
   splay to conceal security shutters may however not be required. This is of
   course not to deny the advantages of the modern domestic window, in
   terms of both thermal and acoustic capacity, with the introduction of
   double glazing.

Whilst the majority of windows are of the type discussed, set into walls at
intervals, either horizontal or vertical, each having their own character-
istics in determining the quality of daylight entering the room. It is more
likely that wall-to-wall windows will be used in modern office blocks, and
these will have their own structural detailing; for example there may be
no need to have horizontal divisions since the glass sizes will generally be
able to stretch between the cill and the ceiling level or spandrel, whilst the
divisions between the wide panes of glass horizontally can be minimized
to avoid the break-up of the view.
It will however be important to consider the junction at the point
where the window meets a wall at right angles at a major subdivision of
the space, or the end of the building; here the reflection factor of the wall

Windows 29

Corbusiers church in Ronchamp. Detail of a
window where symbolism characterizes the
interior

View of the exterior

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