[macNchz]

Windowless office spaces are so miserable to me. Often under-ventilated and overlit with unpleasant artificial light as well.

On this topic, something window-related that’s common in France but rare in the US is functional shutters—it’s so nice to be able to completely close a shutter outside your bedroom window and have pitch blackness, regardless of the light outside. The best you get in a typical American house is "blackout" curtains or shades that leak tons of light around the edges.

[pmontra]

That seems to be a Mediterranean thing. Pitch black shutters are common also in Italy and (AFAIK) Spain. No idea about the eastern and southern Mediterranean.

Rolling shutters are the norm in Italy. Old houses or country houses have traditional shutters, in the latter case mostly because of aesthetics. They come in two varieties: they open like the doors of wardrobe or they slide on a rail on the outside of the wall. All of them used to be made of wood, they are PVC or aluminum now. Windows with only heavy dark curtains inside basically are not a thing.

No idea about the reason. Some random ideas. 1) no need to protect against excessive cold and wind (curtains are very useful for that) and it's ok to open a window and open or close shutters. 2) hail can break glass windows and shutters protect them. Are hail storms historically common also in northern Europe? Maybe not.

[ks1723]

They are also common in France and Germany:

These shutters serve as insulation in locations prone to harsh weather conditions, safeguarding windows from hail damage and designed to endure strong winds.

From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_shutter

[eesmith]

Insulation. When the day is hot and night cool, and humidity relatively low, use thick walls to moderate the temperature swings. Close the windows by mid-morning to block out the sun and keep the inside cool. Open them in the evening to cool off.