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death of the facade?
Hi all, I have been thinking about the facade, yes that which we both love and hate. Im considering exploring this as another option in a thesis, I have no doubt it has been done before... but here goes
As the title of thread shows im interested in the modern facade, particularly the break down of it. Beatriz Colomina compares architecture to advances in medical imaging, techniques such as the xray, CAT scan and M2A pill which is a camera you swollow to get pictures of your insides. All techniques are those which allow one to get beyond the skin, to see the inside. She draws a parallel in architecture, from renaissance art of dissection of the human, to sectional drawings we use to explore interior space, to modernism's approach of literally breaking down the facade by use of glass.
there is a perverse/voyeuristic quality of reducing the facade, even with solid walls one can nowadays make contacts and connections past barriers bey means of internet and telecommunications.
In saying this there is always the advertising notion of a facade, the 'ducks and sheds' will remain for a long time, but depending on programme, what of an building that uses inner workings and occupants as facade/advertisement. or no facade at all where it becomes unclear where interior exterior is?
ideas opinions critique welcome!
ahhh cant you get beyond the skin by going through that thing that says entrance? why not study infrared spying on houses growing pot. that would be interesting.
hmm..the death of the facade has been practised to death in the US, just look at all the suburbia, the Costcos etc
I think I saw a thesis once in which the facade "absorbed" its surroundings over time (I guess via video?), then re-projected an interpretation of those surroundings (I guess via screens) on itself.
See also the public sculpture in Chicago's Millennium Park.
See also photovoltaics used as cladding material.
nice, I like. Also linked are the contemporary practices that utilize pattern making as replacement of the traditional facade.
what about air curtains? They also can replace the traditional facade. I believe MVRDV researched the use of air curtains as an option for (some?) parts of their VPRO building facade.
The facade is a subject which is always part of architecture because it is the result of a psychological function of perception and response 'ordering'.
I work in a context which 100% facade focused, and I could argue the facade was never killed or broken down, only the unconscious cultural attributions to facade were weakened by the modernists 'images'.
I still think its a relevant topic, beyond the 'ducks vs sheds' argument (which, is really being to simplistic).
sameolddoctor, im not sure i understand what you mean, suburbia is the death of the facade?
peridobritches, what kind of work do you do thats 100% facade focused? I will agree with you on the fact that the ducks and sheds notion is perhaps over simplistic. are you saying a building must have a skin to be a building?
My bread&butter work is custom residential, but we do commercial/hospitality as well. Context is a registered historic district, so there are codified aesthetics.
No - I am saying it is the prerogative of certain mechanisms of the mind to 'find a face' in things. The elements are, in a sense, irrelevant to this operation - they will be assimilated into the bias of 'facade' regardless. It seems that the more one looks at architecture with a fresh and open perceptual attitude the less that 'face' overshadows the whole of the architecture. So much 'concept' is lost on the experience of architecture by non-designers because they do not have an unconscious toy-chest of critical viewpoints to step in an interrupt the process of stereotyping.
Have a look at the thread and the text referred to by AZP of FOA on the Politics of the Envelope
make sure it doesnt leak!!!
Fuck the Facade.....Give me a Floor Plan that Works!...AKA...all the Star Architect of the last 10 years.
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