Windows By Decade
Navigation
Click on one of the links below to travel through time on the UC Berkeley campus and check out a window from that decade.
1875
- South Hall
1911 - Durant Hall
1920 - Dwinelle Hall Annex
1929 - Bowles Hall
1950 - Cory Hall
1953 - Morgan Hall
1955 - Warren Hall
1964 - Barrows Hall
1988 - Life Sciences Building Addition
1990 - Genetics and Plant Biology
1990s - Wellman Trailers
South
Hall
1875
Building:
South Hall
Completion Date: 1875
Architect: David Farquharson
How is the window made?
Metal sash and frame. 8 rather large, single, rectangular panes of glass divided
into 4 horizontal sections. Bottom and 3rd band from bottom are operable
awning-type windows.
How does it feel?
The vertical quality is celebrated with both the overall shape of the
window and the individual panes of glass. The deep, white painted opening
and thin mullions help reduce glare. The high ceiling and high windows
bring daylight deep into the room.
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Durant
Hall
1875
Building:
Durant Hall
Completion Date: 1911
Architect: John Galen Howard
How is the window made?
Wooden frame and sash. Double hung with large single panes of glass.
How does it feel?
A very high glare window. The window head stops over a foot below the
ceiling and despite the depth of the wall, this window feels the same as a
more modern punched window. This could be because (1) the window itself is
placed nearly flush with the interior wall and (2) the ornamental exterior
window treatment splays the window opening outward toward the exterior
(the opposite of Aalto's Mt. Angel Library where the walls are splayed
outward toward the interior to reduce glare).
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Dwinelle Annex
1920
Building:
Dwinelle Hall Annex
Completion Date: 1920 (or 1952)
Architect: John Galen Howard (or Weilhe, Frick & Kruse)
How is the window made?
Metal sash and frame. Four slightly rectangular, single panes are
organized into two vertical sections. Casement-like, operated by pushing
the middle of the two vertical bands outward.
How does it feel?
The unusual nature of these windows makes a very dynamic facade. The wall
is less than half as thick as South or Durant Halls not giving any
significant depth to help reduce glare. The thin metal mullions almost
disappear, but the large handle to operate the window in the middle of the
two vertical sections is somewhat distracting.
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Bowles
Hall
1929
Building:
Bowles Hall
Completion Date: 1929
Architect: George W. Kelham
How is the window made?
Wooden sash and frame. All of the windows in Bowles are composed of the
same-sized, rectangular, relatively small, single panes. The thin
rectangular casement windows are organized from one to four in a row
separated by deep but relatively thin columns. The direction of the swing
is symmetric by window grouping (in the case of two windows, they both
swing away from the column separating them).
How does it feel?
The tall windows bring light deep into the adjacent spaces, but the frames
and sashes are painted dark green, increasing glare significantly.
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Cory Hall
1950
Building:
Cory Hall
Completion Date: 1950
Architect: Corlett & Anderson
How is the window made?
Metal sash and frame with a wooden sill (painted a rather nasty shade of
green). The eight single panes are broken down into four operable,
awning-type sections.
How does it feel?
Not good. Most of the blinds in Cory Hall are down (in some cases the
windows are totally blocked out by a quilt-like fabric) and fluorescent
lights right next to the windows are on. The ceiling in this room is a
false, dropped ceiling which actually blocks the top section of the
window.
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Morgan
Hall
1953
Building:
Morgan Hall
Completion Date: 1953
Architect: Spencer and Ambrose
How is the window made?
Metal frame and sash. Four single pane, operable awning-type sections.
Exterior frame is recessed/hidden from the interior.
How does it feel?
This is the first (and one of few) horizontal windows I encountered during
this project. The relatively deep window sill and surrounding opening
helps reduce glare, and the entire interior (including the sash and frame)
is painted light blue. Overall, the space near the window was adequately
lit.
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Warren Hall
1955
Building:
Warren Hall
Completion Date: 1955
Architect: Matsen & Hurd
How is the window made?
Crazy. Huge single paned casement windows that pivot at the center. Metal
frame and sash. Some windows (those receiving more direct sun) are covered
with a reflective/absorptive coating.
How does it feel?
Oddly, very dark. The reflective/absorptive coating reduces the amount of
daylight so significantly that the occupants have to keep overhead
fluorescent lamps on all day (DESPITE THE HUGE SIZE OF THE WINDOWS). The
sill is relatively deep. Consequently, the occupants store items on the
sill, making it difficult to open the window to get natural ventilation.
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Barrows
Hall
1964
Building:
Barrows Hall
Completion Date: 1964
Architect: Aleck L. Wilson & Associates
How is the window made?
Metal frame and sash. Three single-paned sections, with the top two
vertical sections operable casements. Nominally clear glass.
How does it feel?
While the black frame and sash is distracting and adds an element of
glare, the window lights the office surprisingly well. The occupant
reported that she rarely turns on the overhead lamp to light her desk in
the back of the space. (Incidentally, the overhead fluorescent lights run
parallel to the window on two circuits: one fixture at the back of the
room and one closer to the window. One hopes that this is to supplement
daylight as needed!) The window head running to the ceiling both allows
light to penetrate deeper into the room and washes the ceiling. The
relatively deep, white painted sill also helps cut back a little on glare,
but as the window is at the end of a fairly deep office splaying the
surrounding opening toward the interior would have helped even more.
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Life Sciences Addition
1988
Building:
Life Sciences Addition Building
Completion Date: 1988
Architect: MBT Associates
How is the window made?
One single pane sealed window. Metal frame. Glass is tinted.
How does it feel?
Very sad. So little natural light was entering through this window it felt
and looked like it was night (or at least very overcast outside) walking
through the corridors, stairwells and labs. Artificial lighting was on in
all parts of the building I traveled through on a sunny afternoon. In
theory the tilted sill could help reduce glare if enough light every
passed through to create glare. However, the dark frame and back side of
the pseudo-shading device/exterior detail will likely create a good amount
of glare.
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Genetics and Plant Biology
1990
Building:
Genetics and Plant Biology
Completion Date: 1990
Architect: Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
How is the window made?
Metal frame and sash. Nine, square, single paned sections; three of which
are operable casements that swing into the room (probably mostly due to
the exterior shading devices that would make it difficult/impossible for
the windows to swing outward).
How does it feel?
Bizarre. The dark frame and sashes contributes to some not-so-nice glare.
The shading devices seems to do too good a job at blocking all light
(including indirect daylight from blue sky and reflected of nearby
surfaces. Daylight doesn't penetrate very deep from these windows. All the
labs I peeked into had lights running full blast in the middle of the
afternoon. As all of these spaces are labs, I wonder how often the
operable windows are used to ventilate the space.
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Wellman Trailers
1990s
Building: Wellman Trailers
Installation Date: 1990s
Architect: none
How is the window made?
THIN metal sash and frame. A screen to keep critters out. Two single paned
section; one of which is a sliding window.
How does it feel?
The large undergraduate studio of over 30 students housed in this portable
building has these two windows and a door to bring in daylight and
ventilation. Consequently, artificial lighting is on all the time and the
room is continually stuffy. Pushing the window to be flush with the
exterior allows for the white sill and surrounding opening to help reduce
glare (a little bit).
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