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== See also == |
== See also == |
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* [[Fake building]], |
* [[Fake building]], urban-building-like shell housing unsightly machinery |
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* [[Westwork]], a construction element that also presents a show facade |
* [[Westwork]], a construction element that also presents a show facade |
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* [[Rood screen]] and [[iconostasis]], internal decorative walls in church |
* [[Rood screen]] and [[iconostasis]], internal decorative walls in church |
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Revision as of 16:16, 25 September 2025
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In architecture, the false front (also false facade, flying facade, screen wall) is a façade designed to disguise the true characteristics of a building, usually to beautify it. The architectural design and purposes of false facades vary:
- creating a fake appearance to improve aesthetics, an architecture equivalent of trompe-l’oeil;
- in facadism, keeping the old facades with the goal is preserving the visual character of a historical neighborhood while allowing an entirely modern design of the actual buildings;
- deliberate violation of the truth to materials principle (“false in material”) for economical, insulation, or aesthetic purposes, like masonry veneer using a non-structural outer layer of stone or a membrane screen facade;
- hiding a gable roof, similar to a parapet wall;
- making a building appear larger, more important, and better-built, like in the Western false front architecture or German: Blendfassaden (lit. “blind facades”) or richly decorated main facades (German: Schaufassaden, lit.“show facades”) in German Brick Gothic;
- a purely decorative role to increase height, like the one of a roof comb, a flat structure that tops buildings in Mesoamerican architecture. Sometimes the comb was shifted form the center of pyramid to one of the walls, forming a flying facade.
Facadism
Facadism, façadism, facadectomy, or façadomy[6] is the architectural and construction practice where the facade of a building is designed or constructed separately from the rest of a building, or when only the facade of a building is preserved with new buildings erected behind or around it.
There are aesthetic and historical reasons for preserving building facades. Facadism can be the response to the interiors of a building becoming unusable, such as being damaged by fire. In developing areas, however, the practice is sometimes used by property developers seeking to redevelop a site as a compromise with preservationists who wish to preserve buildings of historical or aesthetic interest. It can be regarded as a compromise between historic preservation and demolition and thus has been lauded as well as decried.[citation needed]
Show facades in Brick Gothic
In the Brick Gothic,[citation needed] the Schaufassaden, the facades facing the main street, were richly decorated and frequently concealed the cross-section structure of the building.
Western false front architecture
Western false front architecture or false front commercial architecture is a type of commercial architecture used in the Old West of the United States. Often used on two-story buildings, the style includes a vertical façade often hiding a gable roof.
The goal for buildings in this style is to project an image of stability and success, while in fact a business owner may not have invested much in a building that might be temporary. By emulating the rectangular profile of buildings in eastern North American cities, the style attempted to lend a more settled, urban feel to small frontier towns.[8]
- the front façade of the building “rises to form a parapet (upper wall) which hides most or nearly all of the roof”
- the roof “is almost always a front gable, though gambrel and bowed roofs are occasionally found”
- “a better grade of materials is often used on the façade than on the sides or rear of the building” and
- “the façade exhibits greater ornamentation than do the other sides of the building.”[9]
See also
References
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