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Comment by bobthepanda | Hacker News Reader

It‘s strange that this isn‘t a law. Everywhere where I‘ve lived in the US, windows are required in a room with a bed.

I can‘t imagine it wouldn‘t be very pleasant, as an example, someone smoking weed inside a dorm next to me without a way to vent it out.

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Afaik, most windows in newer, high-density commercial buildings are non-functional.

It's difficult to design a large window, that will also open, that also insulates sufficiently to hit modern energy efficiency certifications.

In the event of a fire, "opening" the window is not necessarily a function of if the window is MEANT to be opened ... but CAN it be opened. Eg: throwing a chair through it, or firefighters breaking window from outside, etc.

Residential is different, due to generally higher ventilation requirements (e.g. bathroom & kitchen).

YMMV, but I live in Seattle, where there has been a residential boom with plenty of towers, and I have never seen a residential apartment with non-functional windows. Every room will have at least one that can open (though for efficiency reasons they're usually casement windows, which are annoying in their own right)

I'm in a Seattle tower and the extent to which our windows open is a joke. You can't actually get any ventilation from a 16 inch wide window allowed to open up to twelve degrees. I like the idea of being environmentally friendly but we definitely lost the plot where airflow is concerned.

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