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exterior, and through the windowpane, forms a membrane
where views into and out of buildings converge and are sepa-
rated from one another. For both, it is the diaphragm, the ma-
terialized and framed pictorial plane that is inserted between
views into and out of buildings, but also where delimited im-
ages of interior or exterior spaces are inserted as though on
a display screen. The window distances us from the space on
the other side, allowing us to see into it, but providing no
direct access. Inherent to window and glass is an ambivalence
between permeability and reflection (> transparency); it can
appear as a dark surface, a black, secretive aperture in the fa-
cade, or may mirror its surroundings, integrating the building
into its setting, offering views of adjacent structures. In the
night-time, illuminated windows function like eyes, enliven-
ing the street with its own dynamism. The role of the plane
of the window as a projection surface is emphasized by mul-
lion and transom, when they are perceived as the construc-
tive scaffolding of a perspectival scheme on the picture plane,
or as the coordinates of a matrix. A finer subdivision of the
window plane superimposes a latticework before views of the
outside, fragmenting it into facets; now, the membrane be-
comes a > filter, especially when blinds, curtains or coloured
glazing are involved as well.- Depending upon the format, the delimitation of the
field of vision through the frame generates a different > per-
spective. Through the respective framing, the exterior world,
which is accessible through the window only indirectly, is in-
terpreted selectively: the upright rectangle of the French win-
dow (French: porte-fenêtre) allows the gaze to wander from
the foreground of the street to the buildings opposite, and up
towards the sky, thereby offering a more or less representative
cross-section of the staggered exterior space. Corresponding
in its proportions to the contours of a standing human figure
(Auguste Perret: ‘une fenêtre c’est un homme, c’est debout’),
the window makes it possible to step out without abandon-
ing one’s position, taking a small step to stand halfway out-