Making the Marvin Skycove

September 29, 2023

Marvin Skycove is an award-winning design innovation that broke the mold for what’s possible with windows.

What if you could fundamentally change how people experience natural light, fresh air, and sweeping views? What if there was a way to create an immersive environment that fostered a connection between the indoors and outdoors?

What if, on a more personal scale, this innovation could actually improve your very well-being?

This drive to enhance and expand human experiences through design is what became the foundation and driving force to develop the groundbreaking, envelope-pushing Marvin Skycove.

What Is Skycove?

To first ground your idea of the Skycove, think of a traditional bay window (but, to be clear, your traditional bay window this is not). Then, lean hard into the concept of an immersive physical space and you’re getting there. But not quite all of the way.

A Marvin Skycove amid white pine boughs in Minneapolis home

The Skycove is truly an extension of your home, an internal/external box window with glass on four sides, including overhead, engineered to be so much more than a window. It’s a sort of retreat, a place to catch your breath, to take a look around, to unwind. It’s more than a window; it’s a transformative addition to your home and to the rhythms of daily life.

A Marvin Skycove in a modern home, in a living room

“Being emotionally in-tune with homeowners is important. It was always on my mind as we worked.”

Haemi Chang,
Director of Design
Marvin Design Lab

How the Skycove Came to Life

Developed thanks to the cutting-edge efforts of the Marvin Design Lab team, the Skycove was designed to:

Leverage light and views
Enhance well-being
Be structurally sound and installation-ready

“Being emotionally in-tune with homeowners is important. It was always on my mind as we worked,” said Haemi Chang, director of design at the Marvin Design Lab, and one of the leads on the team that developed Skycove.

“We talked about Skycove as an immersive environment and had many discussions about what that actually meant,” she said. “We know that connection to the outdoors matters to people, and that’s just part of who we are as human beings. That got us thinking about home extensions, like courtyards, porches, and other versions of that.”

Some of the feedback the team received when developing the prototype for Skycove helped to reinforce they were on the right track. One individual said, “Sitting in it was even better than I imagined, and we were in the middle of a parking lot.”

But to achieve its final form and bring the Skycove to life, it had to be engineered and built to be practical and functional. To that end, Levi Geadelmann, product portfolio strategist, weighed in:

“It’s an architectural, structural element that can be added to a home without the need for five different trades to come together,” he said.

Speaking to the single-location construction, installation-ready nature of Skycove, Geadelmann continued, “Before Skycove existed, if you wanted something like this in your home, you would need a carpenter, a welder, a commercial glazer, and more.”

Installing a Marvin Skycove Window Box in Northern Minnesota cabin

“We know that connection to the outdoors matters to people, and that’s just part of who we are as human beings."

Haemi Chang,
Director of Design
Marvin Design Lab

What Makes Skycove So Remarkable?

When taking on a building or renovation project, it’s hard to fathom that a window could actually increase the usable space in your home. But that’s exactly what the Skycove does.

“Skycove is extraordinary because we’ve productized a space. It’s an intentionally designed, structurally significant space that adds to the window and actually increases the usable square footage of your home,” Geadelmann said.

Critics and homeowners alike have flocked to the Skycove since it made its debut at the NAHB 2020 International Builders’ Show (where it was named Best Indoor Product).

And since its release, the Skycove has received a slew of architecture, building, and design awards, including being named the winner in two of Architizer’s 2021 A+Product Award categories: Innovation and Skylights + Windows.

Woman sitting inside Marvin Skycove window box

Skycove has presented a new way to live and immerse yourself in your home and the natural world that surrounds it.

“For someone, that space could be where you go when there’s a rainstorm, or where you go to look at the stars at night, or where you curl up with a book and a mug of cocoa,” Geadelmann said. “Those little nuggets were the thoughts behind Skycove.”

And those thoughts have become a transformative reality. Just ask designer Jules Moore, who included a Skycove in the remodel of her Santa Fe home:

"In the primary bedroom is where the Skycove is, and that's my little sanctuary and it's my little getaway,” Moore said. “No matter who is in the house or who is staying, that's where I run away to."