The Architecture of the Facade

Description

The Architecture of the Facade provides a comprehensive study of the facade as both a physical and cultural artifact, highlighting its significance as a critical component of the civic realm and arguing for the restoration of the art of the facade as both a subject of study within academia and an aspiration within the profession at large. As the principal surface of mediation, contextualization, and representation, the facade carries the lion’s share of responsibility for containing the internal environment and confronting the outer world. And yet, in recent decades, the very question of what exactly a facade is has been raised by the dramatic changes in building technology, advances of parametric design, and the ubiquity of autonomous buildings. The Architecture of the Facade addresses these and other related issues. The book is organized into 12 chapters, with each chapter focusing on a particular aspect of the phenomenon of the facade such as those of wall, the frame, transparency, and the role of the facade in civic space. Korman also discusses proportional systems, the language of composition, the role of precedent, the importance of context, and much more. Over 350 photos and diagrams provide readers with a variety of examples of artful facades throughout history. Online teaching resources that accompany this book include a course syllabus, a glossary, and a Pinterest tack board of facades. This book will be of great interest to students in architecture studios as well as instructors and professional architects interested in facade design. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 A Brief History of the Facade in Twelve Buildings 2 Notes Toward a Difficult Definition Questions of Definition Conventional Notions of Facade The Facade and the Analogy of the Face Modernism and the Transformation of Face Facade in the Age of Blobitecture 3 Phenomenology and the Facade A Phenomenological Approach to Facade Front, Frontal, and Frontality The Contrapposto Facade Reading the Facade: The Phenomenon of Type Serial Vision and the Parallax Conundrum 4 The Phenomenon of the Wall Facade and the Condition of Wallness The Wall/Frame Dichotomy Wall and Window The Tectonic versus the Technological Facade Wall and the Affective Response 5 The Phenomenon of the Frame The Column as Protagonist The Trabeated Wall The Frame and Two Types of Space The Wall/Frame Dialogues Three Contemporary Frame Facades 6 The Outside, the Inside, and the In-Between The Outside, the Inside, and the In-Between The Inside Out Interior, Exterior, and Idiosyncratic Forces The Interior Facade The Fifth Facade 7 The Repetitive Bay The Ubiquitous Bay The Concatenated Facade The Music of the Bay The Coda as Punctuation Housing and the Modern Bay Facade 8 Representation, Abstraction, and Meaning The Problematic of Meaning Notes on an Architecture of Abstraction Duck, Decorated Shed, and Deconstructivism Allusion, Metaphor, and Index Minimalism and the Anti-Facade 9 Transparency, Translucency, and Opacity Transparency of the Literal Kind Phenomenal Transparency Translucency Literal and Phenomenal Opacity The Kingdom of Glass 10 Proportion and the Search for a Cosmic Connection Proportion: Historical Preoccupation and Contemporary Ambiguity The Golden Section Ratio Le Corbusier and the Modulor Music, Proportion, and Facade Proportion in Practice: Three Contemporary Facades 11 Precedent and Invention The Role of Precedent Precedent, Invention, and Originality Modes of Appropriation Two Modern Exemplars Facadism: The Good, the Bad, and the Questionable 12 The City and the Facade Facade and Civic Space The Modern Facade and the Premodern City Facade and the City of Modern Architecture The Problematic of the Autonomous Facade Facade and the City of Collage Epilogue Appendix: Selected Readings and Other Resources Image Captions and Credits Index