Windows of the World

Windows, write the authors, ""separate viewer from view, inside from outside, public from private."" It's in this spirit that windows, and their frequent companion, the shutter, are given weighty consideration by the husband and wife team who wrote Colors of the World and Doors of the World. A designer/colorist who founded a company that specializes in color in architecture, Jean-Philippe's expertise is obvious in choosing the more than 100 color photos that make up what is essentially a picture book showcasing windows-bay, rose, lancet and half-fan-and wood, metal and louvered shutters. Very little text complements with the photos, and that which is included offers a brief history and analysis of shutters found in Europe and the Middle East. The authors' knowledge of and focus on window minutiae (casement proportion, paint color, woodwork form), while undoubtedly the result of much research, is spread too thinly to truly enhance the photographs. Design aficionados and architects may be satisfied by this book, but those with less enthusiasm for those fields may find this, even as a companion to Doors of the World, feels like a piece of a larger work.