219which invest buildings and objects with personal character in
the form of documentary collages or improvised bricolage.
The appearance of genuine patina cannot simply be imitated
artificially, but testifies as authentic traces to the dignity of
natural use.
Patina is evaluated very differently depending upon the
cultural context or object involved. While traces of age or
use are sometimes regarded as blemishes in Western culture,
Japanese culture accommodates a subtle aesthetic of patina,
referred to with the term wabi-sabi. There, patina is prized as
an inconspicuous, fractured or veiled > beauty. Objects are
ennobled by the maturity and authority of the old, so that
authentic traces of use increase their value. It is believed that a
patinated object is incorporated more readily into a situation,
and that, fusing with its surroundings, it generates the special
aura of an atmosphere.
At times, an excess of patina can detract from the clarity
of surfaces and contours, depriving forms of detail so that
the effect of a spatial design loses its differentiation, inter-
fering with essential aspects of architectural expression, for
example, when facade vegetation masks the characteristic ap-
pearance of the building through a pronounced ‘coating’. The
morbid charm that emanates from patina, which our senti-
mental yearning for the past makes us appreciate, can soon
disintegrate into mere mustiness.
With a precedent in classical Modernism, with its denial
of history, its preference for white buildings and an ‘absence
of traces’ (Benjamin 1933/1999), many contemporary facade
materials, including glass and painted, enamelled or anodized
metal panelling, are designed to avoid allowing a surface char-
acter to alter through time. Regular facade cleanings make the
buildings of all epochs come to resemble one another. Historic
buildings too often seem faceless, appearing new, indifferently
accessible to the present. Evidently, the layers of history can
be washed off.
Literature: Koren 1995; Weston 2003