Reinforced concrete and increasingly strong interior steel beams have almost made buildings’ exterior envelopes a relic of the past. While a building covering still provides crucial protection from the elements, and of course privacy, architects have taken liberties with the playful possibilities that false facades offer. Such film set aesthetics not only add visual interest to otherwise ordinary buildings, but their tendency to confuse viewers holds an uncanny appeal that riffs of the entire system of symbolic architecture. With an open mindset, this facade masquerade can provide endless entertainment (and make Robert Venturi proud). Join us in this study of form-follows-folly: Images courtesy of the AOC. Spa School by the AOC, London The brick wrap is designed to relate the building to its context, purposely taking on the function of communication as a flat skin, leaving the building itself to perform as a place for learning. Image via wikimedia.org Fire Station Number 4 by Venturi and Rauch, Columbus, Indiana The classic appropriation of the Western false front as high architecture, Robert Venturi’s famous fire station helped introduce the world to his ideas about irony and simplicity, all from …
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