Sliding Windows: The Latest Architecture and News

When we talk about the building envelope, we often make the analogy of a skin that protects and wraps the structure, creating a transition in the physical environment. This concept is interesting as it identifies that, similar to its function in humans, the skin plays a role in protecting and regulating the interior setting, besides contributing to the aesthetics of the building. In this way, both the human skin and the building envelope act as elements that respond to the stimuli of the surroundings and the life that develops within them. More than just protective barriers, they are experienced as means of active interaction with the context.

While envelopes evolve within diverse contexts, materials, and systems, minimalist windows distinguish themselves through their aesthetic qualities by being transparent and fluid skins. These windows excel with their functionality and visual lightness, standing out in the architectural landscape. In addition, they are noteworthy thanks to their versatility across different systems that connect life within the interior and exterior. Considering Swiss and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor's statement that "architecture is exposed to life,” windows play a vital role in expressing that connection, becoming a significant part of the building's identity and essence.

In the context of WWI and to address the massive housing shortage resulting from the conflict, the Dom-Ino modular structure, one of the most significant contributions of functionalism and designed by the Swiss designers Le Corbusier and Max Dubois, established concrete premises for a new vision of a lightweight structural model that optimizes the construction process. Thanks to the use of a reinforced concrete slab and column system, the Dom-Ino structure allowed for the flexible arrangement of elements in the floor plan and freed the facade from the limitations imposed by load-bearing walls.

This condition prompted the creation of architectural designs that not only integrated windows as functional elements but also as compositional. Thanks to technological innovations, windows with slender framings and wider openings were achieved, as exemplified in works such as Villa Savoye and Farnsworth House. While these proposals redefined the aesthetics of architecture, the technological limitations of the time presented challenges. Nowadays, the continuous development of windows with improved technical characteristics has led to the concept of the minimalist window, which has inspired three fundamental principles derived from this concept, conceived by Vitrocsa. These principles —transparency, functional variations, and advanced mechanisms— incorporate technological innovations while simultaneously blurring spatial boundaries. Each of them plays a key role in the design of spaces and together they significantly redefine the aesthetics of buildings and interiors.

Windows serve multiple essential functions in any project, from framing views to providing daylight and natural ventilation. As human needs have shifted and technology has advanced significantly throughout the years, these have evolved in character, shape, and use of materials. What began as small arrow loops used for defense in medieval fortifications later transformed into wider openings that exemplified status and wealth. The Romans were the first to use glass, but it was considered a precious commodity for centuries. Intricate stained-glass panels adorned countless of medieval churches and cathedrals, while most home dwellers had to settle for covering their “windows” with wood, fur and other materials.

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The benefits of prefabrication are by now well-documented: prefabricated construction is cheaper, faster, better for the environment, and more consistent than traditional forms of architectural construction. At the same time, it can be used for a wide range of unique designs, calculated to meet a client’s specific needs. To take advantage of these many benefits, however, the prefabrication systems and products themselves must meet a certain standard of quality and flexibility.

Below, we consider five architectural projects using custom glass windows and doors by Western Window Systems, each designed to maximize utility for prefabricated and modular construction logics. Beyond their suitability for prefabricated construction, these products also maximize views, aesthetics, and functionality, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor living.

Like a beautiful painting, windows showcase interiors and frame landscapes that connect users to the outside world, directing our eyes to what really matters. But besides framing views and facilitating visual communication, windows serve multiple essential functions that make them vital components in any project. They illuminate homes with sunrays, provide natural ventilation, filter light, insulate from cold and heat, block water and ensure protection. As most design professionals would agree, glazing also plays a crucial aesthetic role; its materials, style and dimensions certainly make a significant difference in the appearance of facades and spaces.

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The window is the architectural element that satisfies our innate need to relate to the outside space, providing us with ventilation and light. The more extensive and clean the window is, the greater the sensation of "being outside". Consequently, opening up spaces to the outside has become a common requirement for people who want and need to inhabit flexible, adaptable spaces, in contact with the air and nature. There are many ways to do this, but not all of them allow an airtight enclosure to become fully open and continuous, clearing the boundaries between both spaces.

We spoke with Beat Guhl, CEO of Sky-Frame, during the Swiss Bau fair – one of the largest events in the materials industry. Sky-Frame produces frameless sliding window systems; vital components to achieve an effective and efficient transparency in architectural projects. The company is constantly pushing for technical innovation and works closely with architects to help achieve fluid spatial concepts.

The leaves are still sprinkled with delicate drops of morning dew.
Outside, in Hamburg, the bustling metropolis in northern Germany, the streets are already a hive of activity as another working day begins.

Time to savour a long, leisurely gaze over the Alster.
To watch the seagulls glide silently across the sky.
As you take in the great, boundless expanse, from a room flooded with natural light, the borders between indoors and outdoors begin to blur, as though the laws of physics no longer applied.

You feel the first rays of warm sunlight on your face.
Aren’t these precisely the kind of moments which give you the energy you need for yet another hectic day? – A view, not a window.

As ingenious solutions for environments that require additional space and ventilation, articulated or accordion doors and windows operate by folding their leafs one over the other and onto the sides of the opening. They moving via upper and lower rails which can be embedded into masonry and allow separation and integration rooms while adding aesthetic value to the project.

This system generates a similar effect to that of a sliding door or window, but it differs in that all its leafs remain in the same plane when they are closed, giving a clean appearance to the façade.

With a clean and elegant appearance, sliding doors improve the lighting and ventilation of a space.

They also provide several advantages when it comes to design: they frame stunning views and emphasize nature. On the other hand, when using them as an enclosure it is possible to generate a greater fluidity between the interior and exterior spaces, creating an illusion of a larger space.

If you are looking for ideas on how to incorporate sliding doors into your project, keep reading on for 23 impressive examples.