Villa Savoye in Poissy, France: a modernist manifesto

The Villa is characterised by large windows and light, blurring the lines between inside and outside. It is beautifully done but was largely uninhabitable, being too hot in summer and too cold in winter

#VillaSavoye #ModernistArchitecture #Modernism #FensterFreitag #WindowsFriday

@mandy

A little overhang for the south-facing windows would really have helped, and of course also triple-pane glass or vacuum glass... :)

@abhayakara very interesting! Do you know if the vacuum glass would have been available in the 1930s?

Incidentally, I lived in Johannesburg, South Africa for 25 years and had the same complaint. Houses are freezing there in winter!! I always say I would only return to live there if I could install double glazed windows and central heating

@mandy

Nope, vacuum glass is really new. Its main benefit is it's thin: you can install it in place of single glazing. It's not as pretty, because there are little support structures to hold the glass against the vacuum.

@mandy

Generally, double- and triple-pane windows are fairly new, particularly with argon between the panes. But windows like the ones in the picture can now perform sort of decently. If you arrange the overhangs right, you get no solar gain in the summer, probably a bit too much in spring and fall, and a substantial amount in the winter.

Anyway, at least one of my neighbors with south-facing windows has glazing like in the picture, only it works. Ours are a bit less extreme (more frame).

@abhayakara well, hopefully the lovely people at Villa Savoye won't figure it out because it's a lovely place to visit and I think the public benefits from it as an open house