Envelopes as a catalyst

A building's envelope is the first thing a person interacts with when experiencing a building. It is the first impression of a building and what it contains. Ask anyone (and by "anyone" I mean normal people not in architecture) what kind of architecture they like and why, and it's most likely something they like about the facade or exterior. There is this divide between interior and exterior. But the exterior belongs to the public realm and as such, contains social consequences. Alejandro Zaera says

The envelope... engages several political forms: economical, social and psychological. Yet there is no such a thing as a unitary theory of the building envelope in the history of architecture.

I think this is because what the skin of a building can do has changed over time, and I don't believe this is a bad thing. Once it was specifically for protection which evolved into expression of ideas, which eventually evolved into an adaptation or surroundings, and now has evolved into the catalyst of change in its surroundings.

I don't think facades have reached their full potential in this last phase. We are still learning and understanding how envelopes can affect what is around them. In Barcelona we visited the Catalan Institute of Economists building that aimed to turn its facade into a vertical public space - an extension of the plaza. The concept was strong and worked both on from the interior and the exterior, making the user feel connected to the opposite space.

We also visited the Media-TIC building we learned about in Productions and Assemblies. While very experimental, it fit in with the surroundings in that the whole neighborhood (22@) was experimental. What the building facade did for the surroundings, however, didn't seem as obvious. 

These two buildings took drastically different approaches to their facades. One opting to address social implications while the other aimed for a more technical and performative display. Facades are used in different ways and we don't need a unified theory on them, but rather should explore the abilities and the capacity they have to alter their surroundings.