Types of Round Windows
When considering how to touch up an exterior wall or solve a lighting problem for a room, windows are an easy option. They’re always on to provide light, increase the space of a room and provide a natural aesthetic. Roundness is often seen as a calming shape, a natural one, and one that offers a healthy aesthetic in any room. But not all rooms can be round, and there are only so many round things to own. Bringing light in through a round window will bring attention to the shape, and that shape will communicate a steady feeling of comfort throughout any room.
1. Circle Windows
The simplest, but also most difficult shape, to construct is the circle. Circle windows, also sometimes called port windows, offer a very simple view of the world through a rounded pane of glass. They can be small and face-sized or larger to allow for sectioned opening. Generally, a circle window is best when paired with views of nature, or for rooms that need privacy while still bringing in outside light.
2. Hexagon Windows
Not strictly round, a hexagon window is one made of a six-sided shape. Hexagons offer a very modern style. The angular, exacting design is great for rooms that also have a modern flair, like entertainment centers. If positioned pont-up, hexagon windows can be easily covered from the sides or even drawn open. Positioned point-horizontal the window will seem wider than it actually is, combining standard square space with the extra angles out to each side, which improves the scale of a room.
3. Octagon Windows
Octagon windows are eight-sided and tend to be on the larger side. Part of a traditional style that is having a resurgence, octagons offer structural soundness which was often needed in older homes where building materials weren’t as hardy. Now, they represent a simpler look while still offering plenty of clearance for light and air. They can be grated or have sliding shutters to increase the old-time aesthetic and bring a traditional view to any room.
4. Oval Windows
An oval window is a stretched or flattened round window producing an oblong, less exact circle shape. What makes them special is the quality of roundness that they offer, bridging between a pure round look and a wide, flat viewport. These are common in historical houses and at high vantages, mainly as flat-wall skylights to let light stream in a more natural way. When the sun peaks, it hits the window just so that the light coming through reaches an angle that makes it round when it touches the floor.
5. Arch Windows
Arch windows are just partway between a round window and a traditional slat window. They are tall, rectangular, and have a rounded top or arch. Also called full spring line windows to have a regal appeal, mimicking the tall arches of royal palaces or are often fixtures in mansions. They can swing open from the edge or from the center, French style. These give a heightening illusion depending on how tall they are. The taller they get, the higher the room will appear as they don’t just stretch up to offer a tall view, but the rounded top makes the eyes go further than it seems.
6. Full Chord Windows
Full Chord windows are also called Half Circle windows. They can look like a wider arch window, but what makes them stand apart is their exacting nature. The top round is an exact half circle, hence the other name, and the diameter determines the width of the window underneath. These can also be placed above doors at the exact same diameter as the width of the door frame with accent designs and additional framework.
7. Partial Chord Windows
A different take on a Full Chord, a Partial Chord is split down the middle, to create two separate windows which can operate independently. They are used most commonly to accentuate already tall windows and round out the corner of walls that the windows cover at an angle. It makes the window look much more integrated from the outside or inside when it rounds out the angles where the walls meet. Partial Chords can also be spaced out by additional windows to provide round corners to square arrangements and enhance the lighting with smoother shapes.
8. Quarter Round Windows
Cutting even further into the rounds and chords are the Quarter Round windows. These are slices of a full round, anywhere from a quarter or less, with unique dimensions of their own used in combination with other window arrangements to create very uniquely, rounded possibilities out of multiple existing windows. They can be used to link flat rectangle windows together from off-angle windows below to conform to a single, unifying shape where light can come through.
9. Elliptical Windows
Elliptical windows, unlike ovals or rounds, are very much designed as a complement to existing windows or doorways by design. They have a rounded top, but angled sides, like a half circle but much flatter, and with straight edges to meet up with the outer edges of other windows below. They have an “umbrella” sort of effect that brings in light from above an existing set of windows, which ends up unifying the whole thing together. These are long-lasting designs that have persisted in home design for many years.
10. Half Elliptical Windows
Half elliptical windows are split down the center, usually paired up side by side, but the split helps add a sense of uniformity in construction as well as design for the windows below. Choosing half elliptical windows mostly depends on the choice of what they will hang over. Traditional square or rectangular windows that open upward or outward can benefit from having matching half-elliptical windows up top. It gives them a sense of placement where those windows can return to once it’s time to close them up again.
