PREFACE FOR THE PUBLICATION: Formal Aesthetic of Architecture Facade III

By Scott Kilbourn

Many of the world’s great building facades begin their existence as a simple sketch.  When confronting the challenge of transforming this sketch into built form however, architects must ponder a number of critical questions:  How should the façade relate to its built and natural context?  How will construction costs and the availability of materials and skilled fabricators temper the designer’s ambitions?  How will the weather and atmosphere impact perception of shadow and color?  How will the owner clean and maintain the skin?  How will the façade minimize energy consumption?  How will the façade integrate with other building systems to optimize the human experience for inhabitants as well as visitors?  How will the façade convey the meaning of the building to the rest of the world?  

Arguably, the craft of façade design synthesizes more variables than any other single component of the building. Considerations of place, use, fashion, style, brand, public perception, information, climate, energy, comfort, sustainability, durability, and cost all coalesce about the design of the building’s envelope. Whether the designer synthesizes these variables into an elegant statement, a vibrant hybrid or something in between, the built façade will contribute significantly to a building’s identity and success.

During the last few decades, the development of façade design technologies, prompted by these and other drivers, has progressed dramatically.  Architecture Façade III captures not only the excitement of these advances but the confidence of referencing time-tested principles as well. Continuing explorations initiated in previous volumes, this book showcases the global panorama and amazing richness of façade solutions by today’s preeminent designers.    

Evolving from the dawn of urbanization thousands of years ago, the word façade means the face of the building which presents itself to street and city, while the word skin implies the building’s external wrapper sheltering inhabitants from wind and weather.  Today, these two terms are often used interchangeably-- attributable to demands of context but also to the fact that the performance and expression of a building are more often than not interlinked.  But in any case, the look of the building is the key sponsor of its meaning; it is in this sense that the façade can speak loudly through an architectural language.

Historically, the education of an architect focused on learning this language of design, such as how to delineate a universal expression of entry or roof; furthermore, this education allowed the architect to compose elements which might convey a meaning of welcome or keep out. Like a spoken language, architectural design uses both grammar and syntax.

Simultaneously, laws of gravity and the nature of materials spawned the establishment of conventions in façade proportions, window shapes and roof forms.  For example, a lintel is usually deeper than the width of the posts holding it up; to the trained eye a deviation from this relationship looks wrong or even dishonest.   Over the centuries, this understanding became ingrained into the architect’s use of proportions.  While architects as diverse as Palladio and Le Corbusier employed geometry and mathematics to explicate these relationships, a necessary adherence to physical, structural principles remained.  Today, however, architects can skin a building using a curtain wall system which floats independently of the structure and ignore mandates of gravity and convention.  Or they can apply a 3D computer program to generate complex constructs of free flowing natural and synthetic forms never before seen in built form.   So while architecture as language is still a prerequisite for the best designs, architects can now design their buildings to speak in many tongues and to respond to many variables.  And the incredible variety and range of the built work, as illustrated in this volume, reflect the exciting polyglot world in which we now live. 

Examining one of the many buildings presented in this book will reveal some of the issues addressed by today’s finest architects.  St. John’s on the Lake in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was designed by the American firm of Perkins Eastman.  In assigning form and meaning to this project, the designers initiated their process by carefully responding to the given parameters of its setting, site and use.  The primary axis of the plan is oriented in an east-west direction avoiding a wide exposure to the hot western sun.  The south façade is curved to enhance the views to the nearby marina and Lake Michigan.  The typical floor plan of five residential units is oriented so that all of the residents can enjoy a balcony and a lake view.  The northern façade consists of smaller punched windows to mitigate the chilling winter winds.  The residents of this building are seniors, so the façade conforms to the demands of an aging body such as sun glare control and thermal comfort.  This is especially important in the four season climate of Wisconsin with its annual extremes in temperature, humidity and precipitation.  On the lower levels, the use of fiber resin panels imitating the warmth of wood cladding, along with the oversized views to the landscape, further enhance the appeal of the environment.  Other design attributes, unseen in the finished building, address the realities of construction and maintenance.  For example, the modular window wall system was installed by crews working on the interior of each floor minimizing the need for cranes and scaffolding during the construction phase. 

The architect of each project celebrated in this volume might share a similar narrative about how and why their facades were realized.  These facades convey the stories of the buildings they wrap.  They represent the architectural languages of our time and the design profession’s contribution to the creation of meaning, place and human experience.