Explication of Window as Heideggerian ‘Built-thing’

Manifestly, window has always been regarded as the vital element to the feasibility of encompassing life within dwelling spaces owing to the inpouring of natural light and fresh air coupled with ocular connection to the other side of the wall. Besides, due to the contemporary prevalence of technological mind and the consequent calculative manner of man towards the built-things, typically modern window is transforming to extensive plates of glass which is merely devised to provide the maximum lighting, ventilation and energy efficiency within space. Whereas, significant literature indicates that within dwellings, light has turned into a mere quantitative matter and the hunger for the maximum intake of light has led to the loss of significance of window as a mediator between two worlds, between enclosed and open, interiority and exteriority, private and public, shadow and light. Having lost its ontological meaning, the window has turned into a mere absence of the wall. In this sense, the essence of ontological dimensions in dwelling has been widely investigated by various architectural theorists who mostly grounded their theoretical framework on philosophy of Heidegger as the originator of ontological notions within ‘dwelling’ and the factual essence of ‘built-thing’. Accordingly, various approaches have been put forward to give Heideggerian notions of dwelling a concretized architectural form; however, the essence of latent ontological dimensions of window as Heideggerian Built-thing seems to be overlooked in literature. Within this framework, this study sheds new light on ontological dimensions of window as Heideggerian Built-thing. This thesis is believed to be a new attempt furthering the studies on disregarded dimensions of window. Extracting the conceptual layers of built-thing through Heideggerian conception, outlines the contribution of this research within the body of existing literature on window. To attain the abovementioned, Heidegger’s philosophical conceptions of ‘built-thing’ and his key hypothetical samples of it in daily life (‘Hypothetical Jug’ and ‘Hypothetical Bridge’) has been explicated through an inclusive structured literature survey. In this context, the synthesis of findings addressed six core conceptual layers defining window as a ‘Hypothetical bridge’ within a ‘Hypothetical Jug’ (dwelling), which grants ‘ontological values’ for dwelling through Poiesis. Consequently, to explore the presence of the extracted conceptual layers of window within actuality of architecture, sample study has been undertaken on designated samples which have been regarded as the representatives of two dialectical mindsets of technological mind and meditative thinking specifically toward the creation of window. The analysis of samples revealed that the presence of specific ontological dimensions within the extensive floor-toceiling window of ‘Farnsworth House’ seems debatable.