|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Windows in Detail State of the Art Windows Edge Closer to the Look of the Past.
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
What is it, exactly, that makes a new house look old? Is it the adaptation of a familiar architectural style, or the selective use of materials we associate with the past? Perhaps the secret lies in the skilled application of decorative elements that help pull both style and materials into sharp focus. One glance at the frankly new Shingle Style house on a protected bay north of Boston, and most folks would agree that the answer is a little bit of all three. While its weathered shingles and cornucopia of gables, bays, towers, and eaves clearly stamp the house as Shingle Style, it's the fenestration that gives the house its sense of continuity, says the designing architect, Trefflé LaFleche. "The windows play an important role in accentuating the shingle wrapper," says LaFleche, a partner in LDA Architects in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "The shingle cladding is like a big, soft, well-worn overcoat. The window is the element in contrast with that wrapper. One doesn't have much meaning without the other." For LaFleche and general contractor Steve Nutter, creating a meaningful façade meant using repetitions of a single, double-hung window with the same light pattern in twos, fours, and other combinations. "The effect is modern in terms of openness and the expanse of glass, but it's being done in a more rhythmic manner," LaFleche says. When a house fronts on a spectacular water view, as this one does, the temptation is to sheath that façade in a wall of glass. "What you really want to do is frame the view," the architect says. "There's always a delicate balance between what you're seeing from the room, and how you compose that, and what you see on the outside." That's one of the key reasons LaFleche speciÞed windows with
muntins. While divided-light windows might seem a picturesque choice
for a traditionally styled house, they're also Just as builders celebrated the possibilities of machine-made millwork in Shingle Style houses of a century ago, there are specialty windows, like the circular window on the west façade. "The idea is to draw distinction to that particular window, to accentuate it, to give it a sense of delicacy or playfulness," LaFleche says. LaFleche extended that playful impression by specifying trimwork, such as the teardrop shape under the circular window, and the pendant under a grouping of four small windows on the same façade. Much the same as things were done in the late-19th century, the windows were constructed in a factory, while the trimwork was fabricated on location. Judiciously, the architect used specialty windows where they have the greatest impact. "We try to use as many standard windows and light patterns as we can in order to monitor costs," LaFleche says. The special circular, oval, and arched windows custom-designed to LDA's speciÞcations weren't cheap: "The cost is two or three times that of a stock window," he says. While a number of manufacturers offer traditionally styled "designer" windows (see "Suppliers," page 63), LaFleche chose windows from the Pella Architect Series because the sash is 1 I" thick. Good quality windows are typically 1 H" or 1 L" thick, he says. "Because the frame is thicker, the wood grills are deeper. It's much closer to a true divided light window." True divided-light sashes--where panes of glass are held by wood muntins--are a rarity these days. Most window manufacturers offer a close simulation on their designer-series windows. You get the appearance of divided lights, even though the glazing is undivided. The manufacturer afÞxes mortise-and-tenon grillwork on both sides of a dual-pane sash, then adds a strip to shadow the grillwork in the void between the panes. Instead of one integrated grid holding multiple panes in place,
there are actually three grids sandwiched around large pieces of glass.
"A simulated divided light gives the grid the Although the idea sounds convoluted, the result is an easy-to-install, double-hung unit that closely resembles a traditional sash window, in a package that is state of the art in terms of energy efÞciency and ease of care. In most cases, that translates to all-wood, double- or triple-glazed windows built with superior construction techniques. Options include multiple choices for both interior and exterior finishes, energy-saving features such as low-e coatings, and push-mounted sash locks in a choice of metals. "There's no question that a handful of companies make a high quality all-wood, simulated divided light window," the architect says. The biggest market for traditional windows is New England. Since most of these designer windows are patterned on historic antecedents in the oldest part of the country, that's good news for old-house owners everywhere. "So much of architecture is about how to assemble a kit of parts--cladding, doors, windows, columns, and so on," LaFleche says. "Every house is made up of a series of pieces that we're all familiar with. They all have interpretations that can become traditional or contemporary. It's the personal and unique composition of those individual parts that makes one house different from another." |
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|