Product Description

The "eyes" of a building, windows separate viewer from view, inside from outside, public from private. Windows of the World tours the infinite richness of this basic architectural element, from the simple, square porthole of a stone farmhouse in Brittany to the fine ironwork details of the mashrabiya that screen windows in Morocco to the windows of New York’s Greenwich Village, crisscrossed by a complex, ornate maze of fire escapes. Here are bay, rose, lancet, and half-fan windows, oculi, shutters, and blinds, testimony to the creative genius of architects, artisans, and the inhabitants themselves. Drawing on their extensive travels and years of research conducting site analyses of the chromatic palettes of villages and cities worldwide, Jean-Philippe and Dominique Lenclos show how the diverse proportions, designs, materials, and colors of windows reflect the geography, traditions, and culture of local habitats.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #210394 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Windows, write the authors, "separate viewer from view, inside from outside, public from private." It's in this spirit that windows, and their frequent companion, the shutter, are given weighty consideration by the husband and wife team who wrote Colors of the World and Doors of the World. A designer/colorist who founded a company that specializes in color in architecture, Jean-Philippe's expertise is obvious in choosing the more than 100 color photos that make up what is essentially a picture book showcasing windows-bay, rose, lancet and half-fan-and wood, metal and louvered shutters. Very little text complements with the photos, and that which is included offers a brief history and analysis of shutters found in Europe and the Middle East. The authors' knowledge of and focus on window minutiae (casement proportion, paint color, woodwork form), while undoubtedly the result of much research, is spread too thinly to truly enhance the photographs. Design aficionados and architects may be satisfied by this book, but those with less enthusiasm for those fields may find this, even as a companion to Doors of the World, feels like a piece of a larger work.
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Review
Glossy paperback with dynamic photographs displaying the brilliant diversity of windows. -- Lovin' Life After 50

Valuable additions to the knowledge and use of color in architecture and add to a beautiful family of books. -- Clem Labine's Period Homes, Martha McDonald

About the Author
Dominique Lenclos, is a classics professor. She collaborates with her husband, Jean-Philippe, in his research. They have written extensively on the geography of color, including Colors of the World and Windows of the World, the companion to Doors of the World.

Jean-Philippe Lenclos is a designer-colorist and founder of Atelier 3D Couleur, a studio based in Paris that specializes in the conception and application of color in the environment, architecture, and industrial products. He has exhibited his work in Tokyo, London, Paris, and Lisbon, and he teaches color theory at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. Dominique Lenclos, a professor of classics, assists her husband in his research and site analyses. Their book Color of France received numerous awards, including the 1983-84 International Color Design award. They are also the authors of Colors of Europe.

Customer Reviews

Creative Designs and Mysterious Windows
"When you consider the architectural quality of a house or an ensemble of houses, the openings, and windows in particular, play an essential role in the physiology of the façade, imprinting it with a specific dimension, form, style, and accessory, a character appropriate to its time and place. Windows strongly contribute to the local identity of a habitat and create a sense of harmony that makes the home distinct." ~ pg. 14

If you love creative designs and mysterious windows then this might be the book for you. There is page after page of unique windows from all over the world. Many of the pictures also show windows with shutters and delicate lace curtains. Some windows are overgrown with ivy and a few windowsills are decorated with potted plants. One window is shown in three different seasons. Some of the prettiest windows are in Europe with elaborate decorations. The photographers obviously traveled the world to find some of these unique pictures and it was well worth the effort.

~The Rebecca Review