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A beautiful and unusual house is a dream that many aspire to. One of the options to make your home different from others is to use panoramic windows. A house with panoramic windows looks different. Even simple in architecture, it is unusual, and if there are also unusual details, it is clearly driven in from the general range.
What is panoramic glazing
Panoramic windows are windows that occupy a large area and, as a rule, occupy the entire space from floor to ceiling in height. This type of glazing requires precise calculation and well-thought-out design solutions. Large windows are a large window flight, which means you need a powerful beam that will serve as a support for the roof and walls of the second or third floor (if any).
Standard solutions when designing houses with large windows are practically inapplicable, since each case is unique and requires its own solution. Each house with panoramic windows is an individual project, and it costs a lot of money.
If there is no opportunity to order an individual project, you may be able to find a ready-made one that basically suits you. It is better to use it in its entirety, without major changes. You can only make adjustments that do not affect the supporting structure. You can only change the position of non-load-bearing partitions. It is undesirable to touch even the position of doors and windows in load-bearing structures without recalculation – aftereffects can be unpredictable.
Features, advantages and disadvantages
The house with panoramic windows looks unusual and stylish. And this is exactly what attracts in such buildings. So a memorable view is the first of the advantages.
Where can you see
In private houses, panoramic glazing is done in living rooms, less often in bedrooms. Sometimes in this way an open veranda is turned into a covered one, sometimes a winter garden is made from the premises. Another possible application is to make one of the walls of the pool glass. In general, there are many applications and they are non-standard and interesting.
In multi-apartment buildings, balconies or loggias are decorated with panoramic windows. Much less often in high-rise buildings there are large windows in residential premises, but such houses do exist. True, in our country it is extremely rare.
Advantages and disadvantages
If you are thinking about what it would be nice to have panoramic windows in your house, consider the following features:
- The presence of large glass – a lot of light in the room and a beautiful view that opens at any time of the day. This is a plus. But transparency works in both directions: a wonderful view also opens up from the street to the room. Especially in the dark, with the lights on. And this is a minus. But he is being corrected. The standard solution is curtains or blinds, and the non-standard solution is the use of mirrored or tinted glass. But such glasses are not cheap, and these are additional costs and, given the considerable area, they are also rather big.
Being in front of everyone – not everyone likes this prospect - One glass in terms of thermal conductivity is much lower than the adjacent wall. Therefore, windows are made of double-glazed windows, and for central Russia they must be two-chamber (three glasses, two cameras between them). In terms of thermal conductivity, they are not inferior to a brick wall of 2 bricks with a layer of insulation (the thermal conductivity coefficient is about 0,9 and can be increased using special glasses). So fears that heating bills will be too high are unfounded.
- There are concerns that large windows are easy to break. It’s no easier than punching through a frame wall. A house with panoramic windows is quite safe, since the glass, even in the standard version, is glued with a reinforcing film. If “quite” does not suit you, put reinforced or armored glass.
- The glass needs constant care. Dirty splashes on glass look terrible. This is worth considering.
Glass needs constant care. - In the hot summer period, you will have to use thick curtains, blinds, or at least light curtains that will limit the penetration of sunlight. And still, be prepared for the fact that furniture, walls, the whole situation will quickly fade.
- There is also such a phenomenon as icing of windows in the winter. Even if the windows are heated, there will be frost on the windows in cold weather. It must be cleaned regularly. You will also have to throw away the snow in winter – it limits the view, although it looks great.
In general, there are both advantages and disadvantages of panoramic glazing in the house. When planning to build a house with panoramic windows, take into account such an important factor as the picturesqueness of the landscape that offers a view. If this is a neighbor’s fence, it is unlikely that the cost of panoramic glazing will be justified …
House with panoramic windows: features
There are also some features that are neither advantages nor disadvantages. Firstly, glass in panoramic windows can be with imposts (beams) or without. Floor-to-ceiling solid glass looks stylish, but is expensive, as it is subject to increased requirements.
Divided windows look different, but no worse. The cost of such panoramic glazing is lower, but other windows (of normal size) should also support the division into parts by imposts. It’s worth remembering.
When planning a site, a house with panoramic windows in our latitudes is recommended to be located so that a large glazing area faces south with an accuracy of ± 30 °. In this case, it will be light and warm in the adjacent room. But there is another minus – the walls, floor, furniture will burn out. One way out is to choose colors in which the loss of color is not so noticeable. The second way out is to turn the house so that the panoramic windows face east or west. This is an acceptable position in which there is enough light, and it does not pour through the windows all day. In general, it’s up to you.
In order to prevent cold from the windows in winter, heating devices are placed under them, which create a thermal curtain. You cannot install traditional radiators here, but you can install built-in (floor) radiators or convectors. They can be electric or part of a water heating system, but their installation is a complicated thing, and the price for them is considerable.
Types of panoramic windows
Panoramic windows are of two types: cold and warm. Cold glazing is used on unheated balconies, loggias, terraces. They are framed or frameless. Frameless are simply thick glasses of a certain size that fit snugly against each other. Panoramic glazing with frames is what we are used to. Wooden or plastic frame in which glass is inserted. But cold glazing is rarely installed, windows that can protect from cold and heat are used much more often.
Most often today they put plastic or metal-plastic windows. Depending on the climate, you can choose the required number of cameras, the type of glass (tinted, mirror-coated, energy-saving, reinforced and even armored). As a result, with proper installation, you can get windows that, in terms of their thermal characteristics, are no worse than adjacent walls.
A house with panoramic windows can have windows with different types of opening:
- Deaf. These are the ones that don’t open at all.
- With ventilation and micro-ventilation. Open windows are necessary to ensure fresh air flow. Such modes are not needed if there is supply and exhaust ventilation.
- Swing. The usual form of opening. Such windows can be used to exit to a balcony or terrace, a veranda, just to the street.
Swing windows – the ones we are used to - Sliding. They differ in that the sashes move to the sides. More convenient, since they do not require free space in front of them to open. In modern design, they have no worse heat and sound insulation characteristics than traditional swing doors.
Sliding systems are convenient because they do not require space in front of the door. - Folding. Panoramic windows can be folded like a book. 5-6 wings can be involved. When installing such windows / doors, you can turn the room into an open terrace.
They folded the doors and the room turned into part of the terrace
Using doors of various ways of opening, you can achieve the functionality that you need. Wooden houses with panoramic windows are rare. The fact is that wood is constantly changing dimensions and ordinary windows are placed in special casing boxes that compensate for this movement. If the window area is very large, this can be problematic. If a solution is found, you can install wooden or plastic windows. And so that white plastic does not look alien, they put frames laminated with a film that imitates wood.
Projects of houses with panoramic windows
It should be said right away that the cost of building such a house, at least, will not be cheaper. This impression is due to the large area occupied by the windows. But the windows must be of good quality, and this is not cheap.
Panoramic windows in houses are often made in a bay window. This decorative extension itself gives the house an unusual look, and in combination with large windows, the building acquires individual features.
A house with panoramic windows can have a flat roof. Such buildings are built in a modern style, high-tech, minimalism and others with laconic architecture. They have a memorable look. They are distinguished by the presence of broken lines, the absence of smooth and rounded ones. And floor-to-ceiling windows only emphasize this feature of theirs.
Large windows fit into the house of any architecture. If the house has some unusual details – a roof, a porch, etc. – they inexplicably emphasize this detail and the photos of the projects confirm this. If ordinary windows are replaced with large windows, much of the charm of these buildings will be lost.
In combination with sloping roofs of complex shapes, panoramic windows look even more unusual. Such projects in appearance are the most spectacular.