ELECTRIC HOUSE, LAVENDER HILL, BATTERSEA.
T. W. Hatwaed, M.I.C.E., Borough Engineer. Henry Hitmans, E.R.I.B.A., Architect.
SOME PROBLEMS OF FENESTRATION
By A. Trystan Edwards.
There is no element of architectural design in which the architect has greater freedom than in fenestration. The size of the building and the disposition of its rooms are determined by utilitarian necessity, but provided that a sufficiency of light be admitted to the interior, the designer can make his windows of whatever shape he pleases. But how is the architect to use this liberty, and what bounds, if any, must govern his inventive capacity to give new forms and patterns to the window openings?
Let us begin by taking the simplest problem—that of fenestrating a plain rectangular fagade situated in the ordinary urban street. Although this problem may be described as “ simple ’’ in comparison with others, the range of its discussion is yet a wide one, and in order to confine the subject of the present argument to reasonable limits, I propose to consider nothing except the urban fagade which has principal or showrooms, or important living-rooms looking on to the street. Thus the difficulty of combining windows of widely different sizes in a single pattern of fenestration does not here arise.
The Rectangular Window
Of course, in some degree the shape of the window is determined by practical considerations. LTndoubt.edly windows can be constructed of almost any shape, but it has been found that the rectangular form lends itself to simple and economical construction both of the brick or stone surrounds of the window and of the actual fitments of the window itself. The rectangular form, however, in spite of its obvious practical utility, would not have been so universally adopted by architects, many of whom have been in the fortunate position of being allowed almost unlimited money for the erection of the noblest buildings their minds could conceive, unless it could also be justified ffisthetically. What is this aesthetic justification, then? I believe it is to be found in the peculiar geometrical property of the rectangle by virtue of which it is capable of aligning itself with other rectangles in such a manner that the plurality of rectangles has the attribute of unity. A rectangle is capable of being a fraction, a subordinate part of another and larger rectangle, with which, however, it
T. W. Hatwaed, M.I.C.E., Borough Engineer. Henry Hitmans, E.R.I.B.A., Architect.
SOME PROBLEMS OF FENESTRATION
By A. Trystan Edwards.
There is no element of architectural design in which the architect has greater freedom than in fenestration. The size of the building and the disposition of its rooms are determined by utilitarian necessity, but provided that a sufficiency of light be admitted to the interior, the designer can make his windows of whatever shape he pleases. But how is the architect to use this liberty, and what bounds, if any, must govern his inventive capacity to give new forms and patterns to the window openings?
Let us begin by taking the simplest problem—that of fenestrating a plain rectangular fagade situated in the ordinary urban street. Although this problem may be described as “ simple ’’ in comparison with others, the range of its discussion is yet a wide one, and in order to confine the subject of the present argument to reasonable limits, I propose to consider nothing except the urban fagade which has principal or showrooms, or important living-rooms looking on to the street. Thus the difficulty of combining windows of widely different sizes in a single pattern of fenestration does not here arise.
The Rectangular Window
Of course, in some degree the shape of the window is determined by practical considerations. LTndoubt.edly windows can be constructed of almost any shape, but it has been found that the rectangular form lends itself to simple and economical construction both of the brick or stone surrounds of the window and of the actual fitments of the window itself. The rectangular form, however, in spite of its obvious practical utility, would not have been so universally adopted by architects, many of whom have been in the fortunate position of being allowed almost unlimited money for the erection of the noblest buildings their minds could conceive, unless it could also be justified ffisthetically. What is this aesthetic justification, then? I believe it is to be found in the peculiar geometrical property of the rectangle by virtue of which it is capable of aligning itself with other rectangles in such a manner that the plurality of rectangles has the attribute of unity. A rectangle is capable of being a fraction, a subordinate part of another and larger rectangle, with which, however, it