Facing Density
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs projects a world population growth of over three billion over our current, nearly eight …
21 results
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Pioneering the Structural Terracotta Mullion Façade
Architects today must explore alternative enclosure materials to meet evolving energy codes and embodied carbon regulations. Terra cotta has been mos…
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Lithic Revival
The recently completed Capital One Hall performing arts center located in the Washington DC metro area is defined by a pleated exterior of glass and …
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The Myth of Simplicity
There were good why reasons early US Modernism first evolved in California– wide open sites with no constraints (physical or zoning), and effectively…
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Structural Silicone Glazing
The recent 50 year anniversary of the first use of silicone sealant in a 4-sided structural silicone glazing application marks a sustainable and prov…
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Autonomous or Appropriate
This paper examines two profoundly different design approaches: one, herein called ‘autonomous’, where the building’s design is governed by internal …
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Developments in Gridshell Design
In 1959 Heinz Isler challenged the world of concrete shell design by proposing a series of shapes for shells that were very different from what most …
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The Tectonics of Flimsiness
Architecture has traditionally celebrated the joining of two building components or materials. Joinery serves as a key site for architectural express…
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Air Spaces Changed Everything
This abstract proposes that architectural facade design over the last 60 years has convulsed in light of two disruptions: air spaces which create ven…
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Nested Density
Projecting imagery onto building facades is not only becoming a marketing necessity for successful urban spectacles but is also altering social urban…
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Facade Games
This paper provides an overview of a course focusing on the façade as taught to architecture students over a twenty-year period. The need for this s…
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Teaching Facades
As facades become more sophisticated and complex, more detail-intensive and performance-critical, it's vital that architecture students develop a dee…
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Transformation as Movement
In 1888 the art historian Heinrich Wölfflin proposed the notion that the primary characteristic of baroque architecture is the illusion of movement. …
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Structuring Skin
Curtain wall is the prevailing type of enclosure on modern buildings because of its economy, its independence from structure that allows flexibility …
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Thinking About Facades
There have been three decades of liberating developments in the application of descriptive geometry and freeform design methods, as well as the abili…
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Historical Evolution of Responsive Facades
Responsive facade system is considered a major component of high-performance building envelope that is capable of responding to environmental stimuli…
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Paul Rudolph's Christian Science Building
This paper presents new historical research on the concrete facade of an important but relatively unknown and now demolished building by the American…
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Patchwork
It may be difficult for modern man to believe that what is known as handicraft was once the advanced manufacturing of the day. These techniques were …
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Kinetics in Building Facades
The prominence of climatically responsive building facades through the use of kinetics has proliferated in recent years due to a concern for the redu…
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Vertical Louvered Solar Control
Exterior shading devices, when typically used, are horizontal planes that are most effective at the south face of buildings in the northern hemispher…