Introduction

Summary

This book is deliberately and literally superficial, “stopping at the surface, the fold, the skin.” Typically, of course, architectural history penetrates and explores, whether the object of study is a building, a treatise, or a roll of drawings. In some contexts, however, the front of a building demands attention, if not decoding, as part of the surrounding street or even city, rather than as part of a particular architectural configuration. Such a facade is logically quite distinct from the mere front wall of a building, and indeed may result from a separate construction project, perhaps involving the exterior transformation of an unremarkable and/or unfashionable structure. A facade, then, is an elaborated surface, implying the reduction of architecture to “mere” image.

This is at best a partial definition. In most cultures with a monumental building tradition, buildings were designed to impress from outside, often through their bulk; indeed, Renaissance theorists disparaged the emphasis on sheer size (e.g., in the pyramids of Egypt) as a sign of primitivity. The idea of facade presupposes, not just a single privileged view of a building, but rather, specifically, a privileged front, usually at the main entrance. As such, a facade frames and enhances the point of intersection of interior and exterior space, dividing but also allowing passage between contrasted functional and symbolic realms. With their soaring and lavishly decorated facades and deep portals lined by saints and heavenly beings, the great Gothic churches of medieval Europe famously exemplify such a model.