Inarchitecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. From the engineering perspective, the façade is also of great importance due to its impact onenergy efficiency.[2] For historical façades, many localzoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration.
Outside of architecture, "façade" is used to describe a deceptive outward appearance.[3]
The word is aloanword from the Frenchfaçade, which in turn comes from theItalianfacciata, fromfaccia meaning 'face', ultimately from post-classical Latinfacia. The earliest usage recorded by theOxford English Dictionary is 1656.[4]
It was quite common in theGeorgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new façade. For example, in the city ofBath, The Bunch of Grapes in Westgate Street appears to be a Georgian building, but the appearance is only skin deep and some of the interior rooms still haveJacobean plasterwork ceilings.[5]
In modernhigh-rise buildings, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples includecurtain walls and precast concrete walls. The façade can at times be required to have afire-resistance rating, for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another.
In general, the façade systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs will be made fromaluminum (powder coated or anodized) orstainless steel. In recent years more lavish materials such astitanium have sometimes been used, but due to their cost and susceptibility topanel edge staining these have not been popular.
Whether rated or not,fire protection is always a design consideration. The melting point of aluminum, 660 °C (1,220 °F), is typically reached within minutes of the start of a fire.Fire stops for suchbuilding joints can be qualified, too. Puttingfire sprinkler systems on each floor has a profoundly positive effect on the fire safety of buildings with curtain walls.
The extended use of new materials, likepolymers, resulted in an increase ofhigh-rise building façade fires over the past few years, since they are more flammable than traditional materials.
Somebuilding codes also limit the percentage of window area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the perimeter slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows andfire doors, to maintain that wall's rating.
On afilm set and within most themed attractions, many of the buildings are only façade, which are far cheaper than actual buildings, and not subject tobuilding codes (within film sets). In film sets, they are simply held up with supports from behind, and sometimes have boxes for actors to step in and out of from the front if necessary for ascene. Within theme parks, they are usually decoration for the interior ride or attraction, which is based on a simple building design.
TheHaunted Mansion inDisneyland consists of a building and façade in the front, while the majority of the ride is outside the park in a connected building
Fantasy Gardens (British Columbia) was a theme park with an exterior designed to resemble many different medieval buildings
"Energetic rebuilding of a façade" (Germany): The outer walls are torn off and replaced at one wing of the building at a time while the other wing part is still/again in use
Detail of the glass façade of "Neues Kranzler Eck" byHelmut Jahn, located inBerlin
^"façade, n.".Oxford English dictionary (Second, online ed.). Oxford University Press. December 2011 [1989].(subscription required)
^Jean Manco.Bath's lost era, "Bath and the Great Rebuilding", Bath History vol. 4, (Bath 1992). First published in Bath City Life Summer 1992. Retrieved 22 June 2010
Poole, Thomas (1909)."Façade" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The article outlines the development of the façade in ecclesiastical architecture from the early Christian period to the Renaissance.
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