Studies on glass facades morphologies

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe wealth of geometrical variations of glass facades calls for a thorough study of glass facade morphology. The term ‘morphology’, which is typically associated with biological sciences, is also commonly used in urban and architectural design to describe the appearance and physical structure of the building's volume and its envelope. In many cases the morphology of the façade is closely related to its physiology, i.e. the manner in the facade works (e.g. a layered construction resulting from ventilation requirements), while in other cases, the form of the façade functions strictly as aesthetic expression. The presented brief study of façade morphology investigates the effects of two and three dimensional transformations made to a planar surface and the resulting complexity of façade variants. On the highest level the facades are grouped according to the geometrical modification of the original planar façade: (i) its spatial deformations which preserve the continuity of the surface (single or double curved continuous surfaces) or (ii) segmented iterations which break the continuity of the surface (serrated, folded, prismatic, triangulated). Two and three dimensional spatial deformations as well as iterations such as: translation, rotation, division, and multiplication produce a multitude of different solutions, which are grouped in the following table, which illustrates the possible options of façade geometry.