For thirty years, the measure of a good house has been the size of its windows. Clients arrive asking for walls of glass. We usually talk them down.
Glare is not light
A floor-to-ceiling window lets in an enormous amount of light, but it lets it in all at once and from one side. The result is contrast: a bright window, a dark room and, by June, a set of blinds that never open.
A smaller opening set deep in a thick wall works differently. The reveal catches the light and spreads it into the room. The wall itself becomes a lamp.
A window is not a hole for looking out of. It is a device for shaping what comes in.
Numbers
In Casa Sanavi, glazing makes up 14% of the façade area. The house still meets the daylight factor required for every habitable room, and it has no blinds.
