Perched on roofs like sentinels, their watchful gaze offers witness to life below. As far as architectural design goes, they can be shed, gabled, flat or hipped. That design call should be made based on the overall style of the house. After all, these garret structures can be seen as miniature versions of the overall genre they rest atop.
As an interior device, dormers create captivating spaces within their attic-like rooms. They recess into the depth of walls and reach outward, like moths yearning for the light. Many precious devices are often found housed within these niches – sunny window seats for languishing cat naps or desks ready for that long-needed-to-be-written letter. Whatever the purpose, these luminous altars offer a special setting. Although we may not have that quintessential ivory tower, a dormered space is often asylum enough.
“The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God.”
― Martin Buber
Greg Tankersley for McAlpine Tankersley
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I recall fondly the many hundreds of hours I spent tucked away at the dormer desk in my childhood bedroom. You are so on point about its being a place of refuge!