Lee, S.J., 2025.

Considerations of Frontality and Formality in Facades

Today, considerations of architectural facade design are overwhelmingly centred on technical building performance aspects (Hermann et al, 2015) (Herzog, 2017) (Ching, 2019) (Knaack, 2018). We observe that this is to the detriment of building facade in its representational, civic and symbolic functioning. On the other hand, UK architectural practice has seen a revival of interest in the well composed facade, most notably in the work of Sergison Bates, Caruso St John, David Chipperfield Architects, and Morris & Co. These practices and others have explored the characteristics of the 'background' building contributing to the 'wall' (Schumacher, 1971) of the urban block. Though theories of facade composition can assist in the analysis of these trends, and synthesis of new facade design principles, we note that it has been a neglected subject for four decades or more. We note the empirical visual preference survey work of Create Streets (REF) seeking to record public perceptions of facade design, the negative associations of modernist solutions, and appropriate levels of 'complexity'. We identify methodologies for more precise research into type and degree of complexity. Revisiting the subject of facade as an aesthetic unity is overdue, and to investigate this we present observations on the late Victorian warehouse typology of Manchester UK. In doing so, we posit that the heritage of this city's 'background' architecture can supply a critical tool for contemporary practice in assessing principles of balance, composition, rhythm and proportion.