German architecture prior to the modern period has received less systemic, analytical study than that of Italy, France, and Britain. Scholarly discussion of broad traditions or continuities within Germanic or Central European façade design is even sparser. Baroque era studies of the region mostly devote themselves to isolated architects, monuments, or movements. Modernism's advent decisively changed this: Germanic architecture enjoyed sudden ascendancy. Yet, even so, study specifically of that region's façades still lagged – nothing compares to the dozens of treatments of Le Corbusier's façade systems, for example, and how these juxtapose with French neoclassical or Italian Renaissance methods. Given the paucity of multi-period studies, one can be forgiven for believing Germany's effervescence of radical, modern works seems unprecedented. This book takes up these multiple quandaries. It identifies and documents a previously unrecognized compositional tradition - characterized here as the 'screen façade' – and posits it as a counter-narrative critiquing the essentialist, 'authentic' canon currently dominant in Western architectural history. By crossing evenly over the dividing line between the historical and modern periods, it offers valuable insights on indigenous roots underlying some aspects of Germany's invigorating early twentieth-century architectural developments. The book chronologically examines 400 years of closely related facades, concentrated in Germany but also found in Austria, the Czech Republic, German-speaking Switzerland, and nearby areas of Central Europe. While nearly 75 buildings are mentioned and illustrated, a dozen are given extensive analysis and the book focuses on the works of three architects – Schinkel, Behrens and Mies. Relationships between examples of these three architects' façades far transcend mere homage amongst masters. Glimmers of the system they eventually codify are apparent as early as at Heidelberg Castle in 1559 and Nürnberg's Rathaus in 1622. The book argues that in Germany, northern Gothic affinities for bisection, intense repetition and rote aggregation intersected with southern Classical affinities for symmetry, hierarchy and centrality, thereby spawning a unique hybrid product – the screen. Instead of graphic formality, this study is guided by on-site perceptions, propositional contrasts, means of approach, interpretive conflicts and emotion and it relates the design of these façades to concepts proposed by contemporary philosophers including Novalis, Hegel, Nietzsche, Freud, Adorno, and, most importantly, Gadamer on hermeneutics.

"The reunification of Germany has propelled the country to the forefront of the European community, and has generated an immense amount of new building projects, bringing a new focus and clarity to German architecture. This lavishly illustrated volume presents a showcase of the latest and best of these works." "The architects featured range from internationally known practitioners, such as Josef Paul Kleihues (Pre- and Early History Museum in Frankfurt), O. M. Ungers (Town Portal Buildings in Frankfurt, Baden Regional Library in Karlsruhe), Daniel Libeskind (Berlin Museum), Gottfried Bohm (Deutsche Bank in Luxembourg), and Gunter Behnisch (German Postal Museum and German Federal Bank, both in Frankfurt), to architects who have gained great renown within Germany to young and rising talents. The wide variety of projects presented includes Meinhard von Gerkan's Airport Terminal in Stuttgart and Elbschlucht Complex in Hamburg, Karljosef Schattner's varied projects in Eichstatt, and Christoph Langhof's Pressehaus in Berlin. The comprehensive essays examine Germany's architectural history and postwar urban planning, as well as the ramifications of reunification."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Hubsch's argument that the technical progress and changed living habits of the nineteenth century rendered neoclassical principles antiquated is presented here along with responses to his essay by architects, historians, and critics over two decades.

The facade serves as the building's public face, allowing rapid assessment of its architecture. 'Best of Detail: Facades' explores this topic with theoretical discussions and an in-depth look at a range of selected projects, which, besides showcasing suitable materials and designs, give the reader a detailed look behind the scenes. It turns out that quality architecture can only result from a coherency between the facade, structure, internal organisation and building services – design elements that interact directly with each other. This presents the architect with enormous challenges, particularly as the unity between the exterior and interior is no longer a given, as today's range of materials and design possibilities offer nearly limitless creativity. The book gathers highlights on this issue from various Detail publications, offering abundant inspiration and constructive solutions for the reader's own work.

Timo Carl presents alternatives to curtain wall facades and other flat boundaries creating autonomous spaces. He investigates facade typologies with multiple material layers to strategize the relationship between buildings and their environment. By revisiting Le Corbusier ́s seminal brise soleil an alternative reading of the modern project emerges: one that is not based on classical compositional rules, but instead on the dynamic relationships with environmental forces. Finally, an exciting series of project-based investigations sets out innovative ways in which novel deep skins combine energy-conscious performance with the poetics of architecture.

This fascinating sourcebook presents the most remarkable, beautiful, and innovative building façades in contemporary architecture. A building's façade sets the aesthetic tone for its entire design while serving a variety of functions, from regulating light and protecting against the elements to providing insulation for temperature and sound. This absorbing book details hundreds of examples of interesting and progressive façades from around the world. Presented in colorful double-page spreads, each façade is photographed from different angles and includes engaging texts that describe their significance. Readers can learn how traditional mashrabiyas in Abu Dhabi are being engineered to respond to light and to regulate heat, how a hospital in Mexico City has been constructed with "smog-eating" tiles, and how a "bio-adaptive" façade in Germany uses algae to generate energy and provide shade. Informative and accessible, this compendium is a highly useful resource for architects, engineers, and designers.

Optimization techniques offer immense potential for the improvement of performance-driven design, since they allow the adoption of an holistic approach. This can lead to great advantages: optimal design solutions can be properly identified only if all criteria are considered at the same time, rather than separately. There are two barriers which obstruct optimization from being applied to building design: a technological barrier (applying the algorithms is not easy and can be quite time-consuming) and a cultural one (architects and engineers are required to change their perspectives as the design process has to be handled in a new way). This book explores these barriers from the perspective of both engineers and architects, and proposes a change in the attitudes of these two “actors”: an engineer and an architect develop a dialog which helps them understand each other’s perspective; in this way they find how they must both make a step forward.