modern office blocks contain atria both to help with the
control of the internal environment and to provide space
for informal staff meetings. By bringing the atrium to the
outside, the elevations offer a play of solid against void. In
addition, as the atrium often contains an abundance of
trees and shrubs, it can appear as if an area of garden had
been trapped inside the building ‘envelope’. Assuming
clear glass has been employed, the outside observer can
see into the office building, so that not only the elevations
are enlivened, but internal activities are also relayed to the
street outside. Moreover, if the building entrance leads
through the atrium, a lightweight canopy may project
forward, thereby enriching further the building’s façade.
By such means, dull architectural subjects can be made
interesting, and monotonous façades more lively.
The more that internal functions are allowed to
express themselves externally, the richer become the
elevations. The classical language of entrance portico,
colonnade, rotunda and dome gave expression not just to
different structural members or constructional systems,
but also to the internal activities or functions of a
particular building. The façade of a classical or neo-
classical building is not a flat plane, but instead a series of
layers of connected structural or decorative parts. Added
to this, the interest in pure geometry of the neoclassicists
led to an architecture consisting of cubes, circles,
semicircles and triangles. Hence an abstract language of
shapes forming the structure of a building was counter-
balanced by surface decoration, which often denoted the
functions housed. A typical building of the period was
broken down into parts, with each serving a different
function and given a separate form of expression. In
addition, the public was in many cases allowed to
penetrate part of the edge of the building before reaching
the main entrance. A transition space for meeting friends
or colleagues was therefore provided, often within the
thickness of the wall or within the depth of a projecting
porch or recessed entrance. Elevational richness thus
derived from a consideration of how people behaved
when moving from the outside to the inside of a building.
15.3
Hill House by Mackintosh does not have a
principal front. The design grows naturally from
the plan with living rooms, master bedroom and
staircase clearly expressed on the outside.
124 Understanding architecture through drawing