Windows
Design a window in your wall: from a plain rectangular window to a sash window with glazing bars, a bay window, a dormer or an arrow slit. Choose the glass, frame, sill, shutters and a flower box, and put a row of them in your façade. For church windows with tracery there is Gothic windows. At the bottom you can see how every pane and every arch is worked out.
Point at a block for the explanation. Click a block to mark it as placed. The side view shows the section at the chosen column, the layer view the chosen row from above.
Build breakdown
Per layer
| Layer | Parts | Blocks |
|---|
A number is the count of blocks of that part in that layer, in the colour of the part. Click a layer to see it from above.
Build tips
- Glass is always 1 block thick. In a thick wall you choose whether it sits on the outer face, in the middle or on the inner face; the rest of the opening stays a niche.
- Use the side view and the plan to see how far the sill, shutters and small roofs stick out.
- For church windows with mullions and tracery there is the Gothic windows tool.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the window as a schematic file and paste it with WorldEdit, or rebuild it with a hologram in Litematica. Shutters become real trapdoors, flowers real flowers and glass real panes or blocks.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
Small panes and glazing bars
For centuries nobody could make large, flat panes. Glass was blown and spun into a disc (crown glass) or into a cylinder that was cut open. Only small panes came out of that. Bars of wood or lead held the pieces together.
- The middle of a crown glass disc had a thick lump. Those cheap 'bull’s eye' panes can still be seen in old inns.
- Only in the 19th century did large panes become fashionable. Many glazing bars then disappeared from old windows.
- England had a tax on windows from 1696 to 1851. Some people bricked up windows because of it.
Sash windows
The sash window appeared at the end of the 17th century in England and the Low Countries. Two sashes slide up and down past each other, often with counterweights inside the frame. A sash takes no room when it opens and the wind cannot slam an open casement.
- With '6 over 6' each sash has six panes. That was very common in the 18th century.
- You still find them along the Amsterdam canals, in London and in English and American towns.
- Where the two sashes meet there is a thicker meeting rail.
Dutch cross windows
A cross window has a stone or timber cross: a central mullion and a transom. In the late Middle Ages and the 16th and 17th centuries it was the standard window in the Low Countries and beyond.
- Often only the small upper lights had leaded glass. The larger lower lights were closed with wooden shutters.
- The transom sits above the middle, so the cross looks a little like a Latin cross.
- Later, many cross windows were replaced by sash windows.
Shutters and flower boxes
Shutters kept out burglars, cold, storms and strong sun. In southern Europe they are still everywhere; in Provence and Italy they are often painted in a cheerful colour.
- Louvred shutters let air through but keep out the sun.
- Flower boxes below windows are typical of the Alps, where balconies and windows are full of geraniums.
Arched and round windows
The round arch comes from the Romans and returned in Romanesque and Renaissance building. The flat segmental arch was popular above factory and warehouse windows in the 19th century. The pointed arch is the hallmark of Gothic.
- The Pantheon in Rome has a round open window in its dome, the oculus, about 9 metres across. It has no glass.
- In French a round window is called an oeil-de-boeuf, an ox eye. You find many in Baroque palaces.
- The keystone at the top of an arch holds the other stones in place.
Bay windows and oriels
A bay window is a projection with windows. On the ground floor it stands on the ground; an oriel hangs on the façade on stepped corbels. In medieval towns this won space and light above the narrow street.
- Old German and Swiss towns have beautifully decorated oriels, for example in Schaffhausen.
- Victorian terraced houses in England often have a bay window with angled sides.
- A bay lets you look along the street without sticking your head out of the window.
Dormers
A dormer brings light and headroom into an attic. That turned attics into rooms, for servants, storage or students.
- In Paris many people live under sloping roofs with dormers, the famous 'chambres de bonne' (maids’ rooms).
- A dormer with a small gable roof is older and more classic; a wide shed dormer gives more room inside.
Modern strip and corner windows
Once concrete and steel no longer needed the wall to carry the building, glass could go anywhere. Le Corbusier named the long strip window one of his 'five points' of the new architecture (1927).
- The Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht (1924) has a corner that can open completely, without a post on the corner.
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (1930s) also has windows that wrap around the corner.
Shop windows
Large shop windows became possible when big sheets of glass became affordable in the 19th century. Shops showed their goods to people walking by. An awning kept sun and rain off the goods and the customers.
- Around 1900 striped awnings could be seen almost everywhere at bakers, butchers and cafés.
Arrow slits
In medieval castles defenders shot through narrow slits. Outside they were very narrow, inside the recess got wider. That let the archer aim to the sides while an enemy could hardly hit anything.
- A cross-shaped slit gives a wider view to the sides. Sometimes the slits end in a round hole.
- When cannons arrived, walls got round or keyhole-shaped gun loops for gunpowder weapons.
Stained glass
Stained glass is pieces of coloured glass held in strips of lead. In Gothic churches the windows told Bible stories to people who could not read.
- The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (13th century) has walls made almost entirely of stained glass.
- The blue of the windows of Chartres Cathedral is world famous.
- For large church windows with tracery there is the Gothic windows tool.
Fun facts about glass in Minecraft
- Glass panes connect to blocks and other panes next to them. A pane on its own is a thin post.
- Tinted glass blocks light, but you can still see through it.
- Breaking glass without Silk Touch gives you nothing.
About this tool
With this Minecraft window generator you design a window in your wall and see exactly which block goes where. Choose a rectangular window, a sash window with glazing bars, a casement window with shutters, a Dutch cross window, an arched window (round, segmental or pointed), a round window, a bay window, an oriel on corbels, a dormer, a modern strip window or corner window, a shop window with an awning, an arrow slit, a cross slit or a stained glass panel.
You set the width and height, the glazing bars (from 2 lights to 9 over 9), and whether the glass is panes, blocks, bars or open. There are many glass colours, including mixed sets such as cathedral and rainbow. You choose the wall thickness and whether the glass sits at the outer face, in the middle or at the inner face. Then you add a frame, a sill, a lintel or keystone, shutters and a flower box with flowers, and choose the wood. With Number of windows you put a whole row of them in your facade.
Examples include an Amsterdam canal house with three sash windows, an English cottage with shutters and a flower box, blue-green shutters from Provence and a 17th-century Dutch cross window. You see the window from the front, from above, as a cross-section and in 3D, and the layer plan shows every block. The tool counts the frame, the glass and the shutters separately and converts everything into stacks.
With the .schem download you paste the window into your world with WorldEdit or Litematica, with real trapdoors, flowers and panes. That way you make beautiful windows in Minecraft for your house, castle or shopping street. For church windows with tracery, there is Gothic windows.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make nice windows in Minecraft?
Do not place the glass flush with the outside of the wall, but one block further in. That adds depth. Add a sill made of stairs or slabs, and perhaps shutters made of trapdoors and a flower box. A frame in a different colour from the wall makes the window stand out right away.
Which is better: glass panes or glass blocks?
Glass panes are thin and connect to the blocks and panes next to them. They look delicate and go well with glazing bars. Glass blocks are full blocks and give a sleek, modern look. Tinted glass only exists as a block; you can see through it, but it blocks light.
How do I build a sash window with glazing bars?
Choose Sash window with glazing bars and a layout such as 6 over 6. The tool divides the glass into small panes with glazing bars, and adds a thicker meeting rail where the two sashes meet. The front view shows exactly which block goes where.
How do I make a bay window or dormer?
Choose Bay window or Dormer as the window type. For a bay window you set how far it sticks out and whether the sides are square or angled. For a dormer you choose a gable or shed roof. Turn on Include the wall or roof around it if you want the roof in the download too.
How many blocks do I need for a row of windows?
Set Number of windows and Spacing. The top then shows the total for the whole row: frame, bars and stone, glass, and shutters, flowers and awning separately. With Add to my list, the counts per part and per glass colour go onto your shopping list.
Can I build this in Bedrock?
Yes. The front view and the layer plan work in every edition. Glass panes, trapdoors and flowers exist in Bedrock too. The .schem file is for Java Edition with WorldEdit or Litematica.