FACADES IN HISTORY

The different epochs in architectural history have been characterized by extraordinary shifts in building systems innovation, facade aesthetic, and technology. While a great number of historians have traced architectural evolutions in terms of changes in formal expression, building construction, and technology, how our awareness to nature and climate has grown to impact façade design has largely remained unexplored. This paper investigates the chronology of building façade evolutions and the concomitant changes in people’s interpretation of nature that, together, brought about distinctive transformations in architectural styles over centuries. This link between building façade and our changing perception of nature is explored with the help of selected treatises that have helped shape architecture theory. The changes in façade conception involve building systems improvements due to new scientific discoveries, transformation of the wall from a volumetric solid entity to a mere ‘curtain’ due to technological advancements, and the treatment of windows not only as an outlet for ventilation and view but also an element to define space and light due to a changing sense of aesthetics. The outcome of the paper is to present a historical timeline that provides a context within which the relationship between nature and façade construction has unfolded.

Team: Manal Anis, Yun Kyu Yi