The Ecologies of the Building Envelope: A Material History and Theory of Architectural Surfaces

The Ecologies of the Envelope theorises the building envelope as a literal embodiment of the social, political, technological, and economic contingencies which have become embedded within it over the last century, analysing the historical lineages, heroes and villains that helped define the complex material ecologies we see within the envelope today.

While the facade is one of the most thoroughly theorised elements of architecture, it is also one of the most questioned since the end of the 19th century. Within the discipline of architecture, the traditional understanding of the facade focuses primarily on semiotic and compositional operations (such as proportional laws and linguistic codes) which are deployed on the building’s surface. Rather than producing a stylistic analysis of the facade, we investigate the historical lineages of the performances, components, assembly types, and material entanglements that constitute the contemporary building envelope.