Exactly....

Excellent comment. Local environment sometimes escapes notice, and it's easy to assume everyone should build with the same goals. I was in Jamaica a few weeks ago and saw many homes and other buildings being constructed, plus I stayed in a variety of places. A major contrast to how we build and live in Colorado, USA. In Jamaica hurricanes dictate concrete walls (block or cast), and sometimes concrete roofs. Most floors are tile over concrete. Interior walls might be wood, or concrete. Second story floors might be wood (no carpet), or concrete (tile, of course). Lots of arches, balconies, sculpted columns, etc. No insulation anywhere---at the time I was there outside air temperature was about body temp, and humidity felt like 90% plus. Windows seldom held glass---usually a wood lattice (to remind birds not to fly through), or screen with wood louvers to close against extreme weather (plenty of air leakage through the louvers). At the resort the mini-split in our room (cooling) caused all kinds of condensation problems. And, of course, being close to the equator seasonal extremes in day/night cycle don't exist. With only 10 days of observation, and thinking about building science, a few things come to mind. First, Steve says, "If it can't dry, it's gonna die." Maybe not true for concrete. So a water-control layer may not be critical. If I were building there I might want a split design: Kitchen, dining, and living spaces with a flow-through design that integrates with the outdoors. But sealed private spaces (bedrooms, etc) with ERV and a dehumidifier. Personally, if I'm a little warm it's okay, but I don't like being cold---so maybe electric heat in the private spaces. I collect books, so I'd include my library in the climate-controlled envelope. I'm in the preliminary stages of designing a house for central Colorado, so most of what Steve talks about applies to my project.

@@stevenbaczekarchitect9431 As an architect I was educated in Norway - the other side of it is lots of glass because during winter you make the most of the limited sunlight. In Canada we love patios because in a lot of the country we only have 4 good months enjoy the outdoors so we max it!

I watch some YT channels about Germany, and they frequently have outdoor roll-down shades on their windows. I believe they’re typically metal, and some mechanisms are manual, some are powered. One use is for people who want the room very dark when they’re trying to sleep. These Norwegian ones look like they may be fabric.

@@kc9scott I have seen both in Europe

The exterior screen, can sometimes be called a solar screen, its a great modification to an older single pane window for energy efficiency in a hot climate for a window in direct sun; however these windows in norway, I cant see why they would want it exterior since it blocks the solar energy from getting past the glass.

On the metal ones, they're basically a series of opaque slats, but to allow them to roll up, as you start to retract them, the top slat lifts up slightly off of the one below it, which in turn lifts up off the one below that, and so on. These gaps allow the shade to be flexible enough to roll, but they also let some light through. All of the gaps have to open up before the bottom slat begins to move, so this gives you a range of options from completely blacked out to having some light coming through every slat. It's really a slick setup.