Boundary and skin
Shop window
retailmarketlibraryofficemixed-use building
A large shop window that shows the street what is inside or what is done inside.
What it solves
It connects the interior with the sidewalk and spreads light to both sides. A street with open, lit display windows feels accompanied by day and by night.
Today
Give it shade or an eave so the glass does not heat the shop and let the interior be seen at the eye level of passersby. When the shop closes, prefer open grilles or mesh shutters to solid metal roller shutters.
Common mistake
Covering the display window with posters or dark films until the ground floor is blind to the sidewalk.
Tomorrow
Empty shops can lend their display window to artists, schools or neighbors until a new use arrives. A display window lit at night with warm, low light accompanies the street without glare.
Where it comes from
- 1Ancient Rome Pompeii and Rome, Italy, 1st century BC
The taberna opened a wide mouth onto the street from which goods were displayed and sold. It was the center of the urban economy. - 2London retail London, England, late 18th century
The first flat-glass display windows appear. A tailor in Charing Cross said he sold more from the window than his employees cost him.
Masters
- Carlo Scarpa Olivetti Showroom, Venice, Italy, 1958
He opens new windows in a narrow, dark shop at the edge of Piazza San Marco. The interior is put on view and the shop becomes part of the square.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Boundary and skin
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.