Introduction

THIS series aims at analysing the component parts of buildings of not more than two principal storeys in height and of limited dimensions. The elevations illustrated on the Plates have been chosen arbitrarily, for no fixed rules can be laid down for determining the design of facades. In all good design the plan finds expression externally, and features subordinate to the general outline of a building are in direct relation to the plan. The examples selected have been taken for the most part from existing buildings, but they have been supplemented by a certain number of unexecuted designs preserved in National and private collections. Most of them are very simple in arrangement, and care has been taken to present only designs which contain elements, both functional and logical, such as can be adapted to the purposes of modern buildings similar in size and character. Study of the Plates in other sections of this book will show that a great variety of facades can be obtained, other than those shown, by using any of the accepted geometrical plan forms, with their individual elevations, to form points of interest in a composition. The arrangement of an entrance or a portico in relation to the spacing of voids and solids; the introduction of arcuated features, such as are afforded by the “Palladian” motive; the loggia, projecting or recessed; and the vertical feature of large scale used to contrast with the general horizontality of a facade, are all instances of the scope left to the judgment of the individual. Other considerations, equally vital, but of the nature of refinements, concern the proportions of vertical and horizontal fenestration; the need for diminishing the height and width of window openings in superimposed storeys; and the massing of openings to form subgroupings of the main composition in order to enhance the breadth of a facade that is entirely free from breaks.

Novel suggestions will be obtained by the analysis of facades into their main and secondary masses, apart from the question of subsidiary features. Some of those illustrated consist of a single mass, having the sub-motives arranged as focal points to contrast in a decorative sense with the general mass (Plates LXIX-LXXVII): some are formed of three masses, a main centre with two symmetrical wings; while others rely for their effect upon the main masses on either side of an axial line with a connecting link between them (Plate LXXVIII). Some of the schemes, based upon pavilions and loggias (Plate LXXIX), have been selected to include the treatment of terraces and steps which lend so much charm to their correct setting amidst natural surroundings.

The treatment of facades in the streets of cities, when the frontages become in effect intra-mural galleries, such as the three world-famed examples, the Palazzo Uffizi by Vasari, in Florence; the Rue de Rivoli, Paris, by Percier and Fontaine; and the Regent Street Quadrant, London, by Nash, as originally built, point to the advisability of simple repetition for street architecture on a large scale. Many thoroughfares in London and other cities which in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were lined with façades, in which continuity of the main horizontal lines is preserved, may also be cited for the quiet dignity that distinguishes them irrespective of the materials employed.

Façades with more than two main horizontal sub-divisions are illustrated in Plate LXXXIV, and the proportioning of the horizontal masses should be especially noted. In No. I, taken from the Bank of England at Liverpool, the façade is divided horizontally into two main parts, the larger distribution being given to the lower storey. The example given in No. IV, from the Wellington Street front of Somerset House, London, consists of three horizontal subdivisions, of which the larger is the middle storey. The law governing the rhythmic grouping of masses in a vertical direction also applies to the horizontal sub-division of masses: experience will enable the student to grasp this principle and to apply it to any problems he may be called upon to solve.

In the past, before distinctions were drawn between engineering and architecture, the design of bridges came within the province of the architect. Apart from the question of bridges as features of town development, the bridge motive gives opportunities in the arrangement of architectural masses, the “Palladian’ loggias on the river front of Somerset House (Plate LXXXV) being a case in point, where the bridge and the loggia connect two blocks of a building in such a way as to allow of a vista to the courtyard with open access below. There are also certain well-known examples of open screens above the span of a bridge to connect adjacent buildings: for instance, the bridge which carries Princes Street to the Calton Hill, Edinburgh, illustrated on the same Plate.

The varieties of expression that can be given to elevations depend upon extraneous circumstances, so that it is almost impossible to formulate definite rules for their treatment. The best examples of the past, particularly those of the eighteenth century, while showing restraint no less than the limitations imposed by the general acceptance of the classic ideal, do not present a very wide range of composition. Mere repetition of these well-known themes does not satisfy the demand for greater freedom in external expression which arises from the prevailing impulse for truth and reality in building. At the present time, however, it would be unwise to direct the attention of students to types of design which are purely experimental, and the main purpose of this book is to ensure that intelligent evolution shall be encouraged in preference to fantastic adventure.