With windows in mind: explore innovative ways to express yourself with windows and doors

Sunset, May, 2004 by Emily Minton-Redfield

Like the movies shown at the Sundance Film Festival, the Andersen[R] inHOME at Sundance Film Festival shows how imagination, inspiration, and innovation can make something truly magical. The Andersen inHOME provides ideas for new ways to design with windows and doors in mind. Ideas that suit the way your family lives. Ideas that let children explore the world and provide busy adults a quiet refuge. Ideas that make your home a welcoming place for friends. Ideas that express your unique personality.

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Located in the Glenwild development on a ridge overlooking the 2002 Olympic ski jump venue in Park City, Utah, the Andersen inHOME was built from the windows in. Windows open the house to the spectacular mountain views. Windows let in the warming winter sun and the cool breezes of summer.

Windows were integrated into the architectural vision from the start. Designed by architect Michael Plautz, AIA, each wall of the inHOME was as carefully considered as the floor plan. These "wall plans" were designed to compose views from various locations within each room and to bring natural light to different places throughout the day.

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The form of the 6,000 square foot house is organic, with roof planes that fold into wall planes arranged along a massive central stone spine. This 140-foot long stone wall serves both as an organizing element and as a screen from the street. The wood and native stone of the exterior continue inside, helping the house become a part of its rugged ridge-top site.

Andersen[R] art glass panels frame the front door. Nearby, casement, awning, and fixed windows are arranged in a two-story tall geometric rhythm of shape and light. From the front door a stone walk extends through the house and out a pair of patio doors to the terrace. High above the great room, a ribbon of skylights provides an everchanging pattern of light, creating a house that seems to tell time like a sundial. Tucked just below the roof overhang, clerestory windows provide light and ventilation, while assuring privacy.

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Interior windows open rooms to light and views, allowing you to look from one room through another to the outside. Carefully aligned interior windows give the master suite a view of the mountains while providing natural light for the great room below. In guest bedrooms, interior windows look across an interior bridge, through exterior windows, to the mountains beyond. The lower portion of these same windows feature switchable glass, which changes from clear to opaque at the touch of a button. The upper portion is a hopper-style window. This unique combination allows for privacy and ventilation at the same time.

Other concepts explored include an interior window between the kitchen and dining room that doubles as a projection screen for television or movies. A slide-away section of the window serves as a computer screen, seamlessly integrating technology into everyday life.

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While both of these concept windows are still in the developmental stage, they demonstrate the changing role of windows in our daily lives.

But most of the ideas in the Andersen inHOME are based on windows that are available today--stock windows arranged in not-so-stock ways. Imagination can make windows do more than provide light, air, and views.

On the mountain slopes of Park City, Utah, the Andersen inHOME at Sundance Film Festival provides a vision of how windows can perform beyond traditional expectations to enhance all aspects of our lives. Windows become the inspiration for a new way, a better way, to view the home and the world outside.

Although the Andersen inHOME at Sundance Film Festival is not open to the public, you can visit it on the internet. For a virtual tour and additional information, visit www.anderseninhome.com/AOL Keyword: Andersen inHOME.

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RELATED ARTICLE: Andersen[R] inHOME at Sundance Film Festival

Development: Glenwild, Park City's Premier Private Golf and Spa Community (435) 615-9453, toll-free 1-877-924-9453, www.glenwild.com

Architect: Michael Plautz, AIA, principal, RSP Architects, Ltd., Minneapolis (612) 677-7100

Builder: Wilcox Construction, Kaysville, Utah (801) 546-6566

inHOME Partners

Baker, Knapp & Tubbs: home furnishings and accessories www.kohlerinteriors.com

Designer Moving & Storage: receiving, storage, and setup www.designermovingandstorage.com

Kohler Co.: plumbing fixtures www.kohler.com

Lennox Industries, Inc.: heating, cooling and indoor air quality www.lennox.com

LiteTouch: lighting automation www.litetouch.com

McGuire Furniture: home furnishings and accessories www.kohlerinteriors.com

Shaw Industries, Inc.: carpeting www.shawfloors.com

Sub-Zero and Wolf: refrigeration and cooking appliances www.subzero.com

Sundance Spas, Inc.: outdoor spa www.sundancespas.com

Wood-Mode Fine Custom Cabinets: cabinetry www.wood-mode.com