Pattern 180: Window Places

One of my favorite patterns and moments in time while abroad. Window place is a little non-descript, being much easier to feel and experience than learn about. As an architectural element, windows are fundamental and all too often utilitarian despite the great potential they maintain. Alexander gets right to the point expressing;

“It is easy to think of these kinds of places as luxuries, which can no longer be built, and which we are no longer lucky enough to be able to afford.

In fact, the matter is more urgent. These kinds of windows which create ‘places’ next to them are not simply luxuries; they are necessary. A room which does not have a place like this seldom allows you to feel fully comfortable or perfectly at ease. Indeed, a room without a window place may keep you in a state of perpetual unresolved conflict and tension – slight, perhaps, but definite.”

This brings me to my favorite moment while abroad. I was in the middle of a two-week spring break having spent the first half with my family in Belgium. The plan was to meet up with friends in Florence Italy so I flew into Milan early in the day and spent most of the afternoon traveling by train down to Florence. I got into town and spent an hour or so locating the hostel my friend reserved. Tucked behind a crowded market street and up a long flight of stairs, I finally found the Emerald Palace hostel and got checked in. Our room was likely part of an old apartment with a conservatively estimated fifteen feet tall ceiling and 7 feet tall windows framing the ancient church across the street. Although the sill was a little high for the pattern, the feeling was unmistakable that these were window-place windows.

I decided to grab a bottle of wine, some cheese, bread, and sausage and have dinner in the window of our room. For an hour, I sat in the window watching countless people pass by from the second story as I waited for my friends to get to town. Finally, I saw two confused travelers looking at maps and phones in frustration. I recognized them immediately as my friends and waved till they saw me.

A powerful aspect of city life is spontaneous encounter. Something that more frequently happens in smaller towns, spontaneous encounters link a person to the community unlike any tangible feature. Seeing friends from the window after traveling halfway across the continent endeared Florence to me more than any other city I visited. Without those amazing windows, none of that would have happened.