Building window having a visible-light-reflective optical interference coating thereon

1. A building structure comprising:

a building transparent window glazing; and

an optical interference coating overlying and contacting a first surface of the building transparent window glazing, wherein a spectrally averaged transmission of visible light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon is substantially smaller at a higher angle of incidence than at a lower angle of incidence;

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 60 degrees is less than 35 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light; and

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 0 degrees is about 90 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light.

2. The building structure of claim 1 , wherein the optical interference coating is a multilayer dielectric inorganic optical interference coating.

3. The building structure of claim 1 , wherein the building transparent window glazing is made of silica glass.

4. The building structure of claim 1 , further including

a building window frame in which the building transparent window glazing is received.

5. The building structure of claim 1 , wherein the building transparent window glazing comprises

two panes of glass set into a building window frame with a dead space between the panes of glass, and wherein the first surface is on one of the two panes of glass.

6. The building structure of claim 1 , further including

a wall of a building, and

an opening through the wall of the building in which the building transparent window glazing is received.

7. The building structure of claim 1 , further including

a south-facing wall of a building, and

a building window frame in which the building transparent window glazing is received;

an opening through the wall of the building in which the building window frame is received.

8. The building structure of claim 1 , wherein

the first surface of the building transparent window glazing has a surface area of at least 4 square feet.

9. The building structure of claim 1 , wherein

the first surface of the building transparent window glazing has a surface area of at least 10 square feet.

10. The building structure of claim 1 , further including

an infrared-reduction coating overlying and contacting a second surface of the building transparent window glazing.

11. The building structure of claim 1 , wherein the optical interference coating is spatially non-uniform.

12. A building structure comprising:

a building transparent window glazing; and

an optical interference coating overlying and contacting a first surface of the building transparent window glazing, wherein a spectrally averaged transmission of visible light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon is substantially smaller at a higher angle of incidence than at a lower angle of incidence;

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 60 degrees is less than 25 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light; and

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 0 degrees is about 90 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light.

13. A building structure comprising:

a building transparent window glazing; and

an optical interference coating overlying and contacting a first surface of the building transparent window glazing, wherein a spectrally averaged transmission of visible light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon is substantially smaller at an angle of incidence of 60 degrees than at an angle of incidence of 0 degrees;

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 60 degrees is less than 35 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light; and

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 0 degrees is about 90 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light.

14. The building structure of claim 13 , wherein the optical interference coating is a multilayer dielectric inorganic optical interference coating.

15. The building structure of claim 13 , wherein the building transparent window glazing comprises

two panes of glass set into a building window frame with a dead space between the panes of glass, and wherein the first surface is on one of the two panes of glass.

16. The building structure of claim 13 , further including

an infrared-reduction coating overlying and contacting a second surface of the building transparent window glazing.

17. The building structure of claim 13 , further including

a building window frame in which the building transparent window glazing is received.

18. The building structure of claim 13 , wherein the optical interference coating is spatially non-uniform.

19. A building structure comprising:

a building transparent window glazing; and

an optical interference coating overlying and contacting a first surface of the building transparent window glazing, wherein a spectrally averaged transmission of visible light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon is smaller at a higher angle of incidence than at a lower angle of incidence;

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 60 degrees is less than 35 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light; and

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 0 degrees is about 90 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light.

20. The building structure of claim 19 , wherein the optical interference coating is a multilayer dielectric inorganic optical interference coating.

21. The building structure of claim 19 , wherein the building transparent window glazing is made of silica glass.

22. The building structure of claim 19 , further including

a building window frame in which the building transparent window glazing is received.

23. The building structure of claim 19 , wherein the building transparent window glazing comprises

two panes of glass set into a building window frame with a dead space between the panes of glass, and wherein the first surface is on one of the two panes of glass.

24. The building structure of claim 19 , further including

a wall of a building, and

an opening through the wall of the building in which the building transparent window glazing is received.

25. The building structure of claim 19 , further including

a south-facing wall of a building, and

a building window frame in which the building transparent window glazing is received;

an opening through the wall of the building in which the building window frame is received.

26. The building structure of claim 19 , wherein

the first surface of the building transparent window glazing has a surface area of at least 4 square feet.

27. The building structure of claim 19 , wherein

the first surface of the building transparent window glazing has a surface area of at least 10 square feet.

28. The building structure of claim 19 , further including

an infrared-reduction coating overlying and contacting a second surface of the building transparent window glazing.

29. A building structure comprising:

a building transparent window glazing; and

an optical interference coating overlying and contacting a first surface of the building transparent window glazing, wherein a spectrally averaged transmission of visible light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon is smaller at an angle of incidence of 60 degrees than at an angle of incidence of 0 degrees;

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 60 degrees is less than 35 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light; and

wherein the spectrally averaged transmission of visible incident light through the building transparent window glazing with the optical interference coating thereon at an angle of incidence of 0 degrees is about 90 percent of an intensity of the visible incident light.