paned window (architecture)

{{short description|Type of window in architecture}}

File:Window with recent and old panes.jpg

In architecture, a paned window is a window that is divided into panes of glass, usually rectangular pieces of glass that are joined to create the glazed element of the window. Window panes are often separated from other panes (or "lights") by lead strips, or glazing bars, moulded wooden strips known as muntins in the US.{{cite book | first = Francis | last = Ching | year = 1997 | title = A Visual Dictionary of Architecture | location = New York | publisher = Van Nostrand Reinhold | isbn = 0-442-02462-2}}

Paned windows originally existed because of the difficulty of making large flat sheets of glass using traditional glassblowing techniques, which typically did not produce flat sheets larger than 8 inches square.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/881415499|title=Advances in Materials : Proceedings of a Symposium Organised by the North Western Branch of the Institution of Chemical Engineers Held at Manchester, 6-9 April, 1964.|date=1966|publisher=Pergamon|others=Institution of Chemical Engineers (Great Britain). North Western Branch.|isbn=978-1-4832-2323-0|location=Oxford|oclc=881415499|page=255}} Modern glass manufacturing process such as float glass make window panes unnecessary, but paned windows are still used as an architectural feature for aesthetic reasons.