[Greenbuilding] interesting windows

[Stephen Collette]

Sorry Reuben but I don't have a specific answer for you and your  
inward working windows. They don't do super well in the snow area up  
here in Canada. Although, maybe they will now with the warmer weather.  
They certainly do have that dramatic throw open the sash kind of feel.

I have however come across another window that I thought was kind of  
interesting, and it too is German. It's a window that has a thermal  
film on it and this one window can spin so  that in winter thermal  
film faces inwards reflecting heat in, and in the summer spin it so it  
faces outward reflecting the warm sunny stuff out. Sounds interesting  
in theory.

North American link:
www.ecologicalinnovations.com
German links:
www.oeko-logic.de
www.ksd-berlin.de

I KNOW that someone is going to have some thoughts on these. I've  
emailed the tech rep and he is keen for sure. They are just starting  
up over here so not too much info in English yet.

Stephen

Stephen Collette BBEC, LEED AP
Principal
Your Healthy House - Indoor Environmental Testing & Building Consulting
www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
705.652.5159

>
> A style of window common in Germany (and I think much of Europe) is an
> inward opening casement. The hardware is completely different that
> what is common in the US--a combination of brilliantly simple hinges
> and rather complex hidden mechanisms that permit tilting as well as
> horizontal movement. I'm less concerned with being able to tilt them,
> though this is very nifty, than with a thermally sound wood window
> hinged left and right that I can open inward. Marvin makes something
> along these lines, which they call a tilt-turn-hopper, but if you want
> a window split down the middle and hinged on both sides like a French
> Door, they leave a post in the middle and call it a two-wide window...
> This in CVG fir, I'm told, runs something like $2,500 a
> piece--probably more when we start talking about simulated divided
> lites.
> <http://www.marvin.com/default.aspx?page=Tilt_Turn_And_Hopper#Variations 
> >
>
> What I'm looking for is any info on the availability of such windows
> in the US or Canada without the center post. Has anyone worked with
> suppliers of these? Twenty years ago we imported thirty of these in a
> custom size from Germany. That was fun, and fairly affordable, but
> they were made of Norway Spruce. I'm open to trying this again, but
> would prefer to keep it a bit more local. Thoughts or experience?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Reuben Deumling
>