The Function of Ornament

A graphic guide to ornaments produced by building envelopes in the 20th century. The growth in size and number of "blank" building typologies that do not require any contact between the interior and exterior has provided an opportunity to look at new performances for building envelopes: liberated from their association with the interior core, these envelopes can explore perceptual effects targeted to the urban realm. A renewed discussion on ornament has become increasingly relevant as the figure of order and shape that emerges from the construction of these effects. This book is a graphic guide to ornaments produced by building envelopes in the 20th century. Unveiling the function of ornament and dismantling the idea that ornaments are applied to buildings as discrete or non-essential entities, the book traces contemporary experiments in envelope design, focusing on the relation between material and effect.