Some windows, especially on the ground floor of buildings overlooking the street, but not only, have a rounded gratecalled “potbelly grill” (literally “belly” or “belly” grating). Commonly associated withEuropean architecturevery present among Italy, France and Spainwindows with curved lattices became popular between the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
It’s not just an aesthetic choice: this particular shape also has specific featuresincluding looking out, ensuring ventilation and recirculation of fresh air, facilitating protection and safety against incursions and, in response to more recent needs, it can act as an installation compartment for the air conditioner or to insert flowers. Furthermore, it should not be underestimated that, especially if these grates are placed on windows on high floors, they guarantee further protection from falls.
The rounded and curved grates of the windows facilitate ventilation and freshness
If we reflect on the fact that this type of grate is very widespread especially in Italy, France and Spain, but also in Latin America, we realize that, in some areas of these countries, summer temperatures can be very high.
The curved grille creates a large compartment in which you can place place pots of flowers and plants, even large ones. If today we can simply lower the shutter or turn on the air conditioner, in the past this was not the case and installing green plants on the windows allowed us to create a shaded spacethus facilitating the ventilation and coolness of the interior of the house.
They improve protection and safety
The wrought iron railing is one of the inventions that guarantees the most protection and security from incursions. Wrought iron, over the centuries, has always been fundamental in construction and architecture, the different functions have gone hand in hand both with technological innovation and with the search for shapes that are both useful and pleasing to the eye. Thinking above all about past contexts, we understand how the potbelly grill makes incursions particularly difficult and, precisely for this reason, it has always been highly appreciated and chosen especially on the ground floor.
A compartment is created for the air conditioner
If it is true that in recent years protection from criminals has certainly become less urgent, it is also true that new needs have arisen, closely linked to new habits and technologies. Among these, there is the placement of outdoor air conditioner machine: it is therefore not uncommon to see that the camber of the grates is used to install this element, which is often quite bulky in size.
They guarantee protection from falls
Last but not least, the convex grille provides greater protection if you lean out of the window. It not only protects against a real risk of falling, but also from falling objects: as there is more space between the window and the grating, any object has a greater chance of falling. fall at the curvatureand therefore remain protected.
