represented on the same elevation of a building, thereby
adding to the complexity of the façade. For example, the
Mound Stand by Hopkins at the Lord’s Cricket Ground
uses load-bearing brickwork and stretched lightweight
fabric canopies to good effect.
The degree to which the structural system employed
is made visible determines the appearance of the
building. A concrete-framed office can have its basic
structure disguised by a glass cladding system that
gives no expression at all to the framing members.
Alternatively, the structure can be expressed, giving an
otherwise bland façade a sense of interest or organisation
in visual terms. A well-expressed series of columns and
beams can absorb the visual chaos of the modern
apartment block, as exemplified by some of the poorer
areas of downtown Hong Kong. Your sketch can draw
attention to the frame by highlighting its presence
through shadows, or play it down in order to express
some other aspect of the building. Frequently the use of
an exposed frame gives expression to both the structural
and functional logic of a building. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s
London power stations make manifest both the method
of construction and the internal arrangements of complex,
yet publicly visible, buildings. Although your sketch may
focus upon the main structures alone, it is hard to
overlook the architectural drama given by Scott to the
generators or chimneys.
Load-bearing walls can be treated so that every brick,
or block of masonry, is expressed, or designed so that the
wall reads as a single panel of construction. From afar,15.7 (left)
In this drawing of a section of the west façade of St Mark’s in Venice, the structural
logic of arches and columns is not obscured by lavish decoration. Embellishment
here consists of reinforcing the logic of the structure by sculpture and friezes.15.8 (below left)
The varied activities in this harbourside development in Gaeta, Italy, are expressed in
extensions to the main building and in the form of cheerful signs.15.9 (below)
The brute force of shuttered concrete is well expressed in these buildings on
London’s South Bank. The style known as Brutalism sought to exaggerate the scale
of construction and the visual possibilities of concrete left in its natural state.The façades of buildings 127