363side, while remaining protected from the danger of falling; the
frame contains the human figure like a picture frame, isolat-
ing and displaying it. The horizontal panorama or strip win-
dow, on the other hand, Le Corbusier’s fenêtre en longueur,
already allows the gaze to sweep from the inside out (Le Cor-
busier: ‘L’oeil regarde horizontalement’). Here, the lateral de-
limitations may lie outside the field of vision, allowing the
distancing effect of being inside to dissipate and the exterior
space to penetrate without transition into the interior, fusing
with it.
The > image that is framed by the window is infused
with meaning by the framing device: seen from the outside,
as with the papal window or images of overheard intimacy,
like the subjects of the genre of the window painting in art;
seen from the inside as a framed landscape that is staged by
the choice of the limitations and by appropriate positioning
within the room, to which the theatrical drapery of a cur-
tain may also contribute. The contents of these images are
determined by the positions of windows, both in relation to
the exterior (street front, unedifying rear view, or landscape),
and by action sequences enacted in the interior (depending
upon the plan), and the resultant conditions shaping views to
the outside. In a permanent dwelling, in any event, the image
formed by a view to the outside as a section of the world con-
tributes substantially to one’s picture of the surrounding envi-
ronment. This becomes strikingly evident when we change the
room where we spend the greater portion of our time within
a building or apartment.
- The relationship of the window to the room begins
with the > wall. It may form an > opening as a sharp incision,
or be continuous with the wall through slanted embrasures,
offering minimal contrastive illumination, or through flowing
transition to clad walls via curtains. Regardless, the constric-
tion of the visual field calls upon us either to approach the
window or to seek a suitable position within the room in re-
lation to the placement and size of the window to optimize