architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, a paned window is a

window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent materia ...

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

muntin A muntin (US), muntin bar, glazing bar (UK), or sash bar is a strip of wood or metal separating and holding panes of glass in a window. Muntins can be found in doors, windows, and furniture, typically in Western styles of architecture. Muntins ...

s in the US. Paned windows originally existed because of the difficulty of making large flat sheets of glass using traditional

glassblowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a Blowpipe (tool), blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer'' ...

techniques, which typically did not produce flat sheets larger than 8 inches square. Modern glass manufacturing process such as

float glass Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal, typically tin, although lead and other various low- melting-point alloys were used in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and very flat sur ...

make window panes unnecessary, but paned windows are still used as an architectural feature for aesthetic reasons.

References

Architecture Windows {{architecture-stub