creative use of windows

[MikeT]

This is a question for those who have better design sense than I (and primarily for John):

I have two 2068 windows (2 feet wide by 6'8" high)  that I would like to work into my Victoria's Cottage project.  I got the windows as part of a package from a builder who had them left over from another project.  While they are new (stickers on and all) they do not have tempered glass which is required for anything that is within 2 feet of a door and within 18 inches of the ground.   I assume that these windows were originally designed to go on either side of a door and run basically from the floor to the top of the door.

Can you suggest a place for these windows where it would still meet code yet not look too odd?  I thought about putting them on the non-loft gabled wall end, almost to the peak, but I feared that might look too odd    Do you have an idea or two for me to consider?

Thanks,
Mike

[jraabe]

Here's a little 18' wide studio building I designed in 3DHA. It uses two tall narrow windows in the upper floor gables.

You might see if this works on you Victoria project.


Lower floor


Upper floor





Sorry they aren't all the same scale. And, I apologize but I am off on family duty for a couple of days and will have only a spotty opportunity to check back into the forum.

[mark_chenail]

How about if you place them the long way over the kitchen counters for extra light.
Like this or some variation.

[MikeT]

Thanks to both John and Mark for your replies thus far.  I am looking at each of these suggestions (as well as subsequent ones) and sketching them into my plans to see how they would look.  Mark, wouldn't the horizontal orientation create problems with the water outlets (or whatever they are called) that are at the base of these vinyl windows?

mt

[mark_chenail]

Mike:  I assume you mean some sort of weep hole.  It would depend on where they were in the frame and how they functioned.  I just assumed it was a piece of fixed glass 24 x 80 in a frame.  Im sure we could find a solution.  Just thought I would toss in the unconventional application.  It would give a nice band of light over the work surface without eating up a lot of wall space.

[BirlyFive]

um...i've never built anything before, so i'm not sure if this would work, but in the latest edition of fine homebuilding - their "homes" issue, there was a house where the 1st floor windows sort of extended up into the ceiling, which let in more light/views. maybe you could do a similar thing - but it might be really tricky, construction-wise, to mess with the ceiling/second-floor floor like that. and i'm not sure where in a vc such a thing would would go and look nice...

i guess the other bad part of that design would be cleaning the windows. hard to reach.

[jraabe]

Here's a clip from the download details from our sister site Planhelp.com.

The bottom diagram is a detail for moving window headers up into the floor system so that windows can go up to the ceiling leaving room for transom and taller than normal windows over cabinets, etc.