Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface ix --
Introduction: What is a window? 001-004 --
ONE Bauhaus School, Dessau Curtain Wall Window Vorhangfassadenfenster 006-019 --
TWO Brunswick Park Primary School Assembly Hall Window Wall 020-030 --
THREE La Maison de Verre Carriage Window and Lens Fenetre de Chariot et Lentille 032-042 --
FOUR S.C. Johnson Administration Building and Research Tower Glass Tube Window 044-052 --
FIVE Villa Tugendhat Retractable Window Zatahovaci Okno 054-064 --
SIX The Klein Studio Window 066-073 --
SEVEN The Gipsoteca Canoviana The Window of the Three Graces La Finestra Delle Tre Grazie 074-084 --
EIGHT Saynatsalo Town Hall Clerestorey Window Kirppiksen Ikkuna 086-096 --
NINE Fisher House Cabinet Window 098-110 --
TEN Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre Bed Box Window 112-123 --
ELEVEN Swee Saw Hock Student Centre Wooden Curtain Wall 124-135 --
TWELVE CEPT School of Architecture Door Window 136-146 --
THIRTEEN Hostelets Civic Centre Window with Brise Soleil 148-159 --
FOURTEEN Dipoli Student Centre Window IKKUNA 160-168 --
FIFTEEN HIGGINS HALL CENTRE, Pratt Institute Window Assembly 170-178 --
SIXTEEN The Dominican Monastery of Sainte Marie de la Tourette Undulating Window Pans De Verre Ondulatoires 180-190 --
SEVENTEEN Whitney Museum of American Art (Currently Frick Madison) Trapezoidal Window 192-200 --
EIGHTEEN Sydney Opera House Hanging Window Wall 202-213 --
Index 215 --

"Windows are moments in modern architecture where we look to ascertain elegance, technical expression and material language or to capture a certain atmosphere. A window opening is as much an interval and an opportunity as it is a device for admitting light, air or views, it is simultaneously a physical aperture but also a philosophical opening of collaboration and reflection. In order to understand the language of a building we might look to the detail of the window. But what does this mean and why does modern architecture invest so much expression in the window? This book explores how the act of detailing and situating windows in buildings is a key proponent in the language of architecture, which both informs and works with the contingencies of design and construction. It investigates 18 case studies in-depth using painstakingly drawn details and vivid photographs in full colour to define what makes these windows 'great' and how each window is situated within both its technical and philosophical context and as an overall development of modern architecture. Case studies include the work of Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Pierre Chareau, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Carlo Scarpa, Le Corbusier, Stirling and Gowan, Raili and Reima Pietilä, Louis Kahn, Peter Womersley, Miralles/Pinós, Steven Holl, Glen Murcutt and O'Donnell + Tuomey"--