To celebrate Facades+’s anniversary, AN looks back at enclosure trends that defined the past decade

Credit: Jared Chulski

As you may or may not know, facades and building envelopes are one of our core competencies here at MJM+A. And being in midtown Manhattan puts us right in the thick of things in terms of the citiscape’s transformation. Today the old and new sit next to each other and with the right amount of TLC, successfully we might add. So we saw this article in one of our favorite publications about what’s been happening with facades worldwide over the past decade. We hope you find it as interesting as we do. Typically we reprint the entire article but this one is so chocked full of pictures of these fabulous designs that we wanted you to experience it directly. Just hit the button below.

FROM THE ARCHITECT’S NEWSPAPER / BY DREW ZELBA

Since 2012, AN Media has hosted the Facades+ conference series, whose aim is to highlight the state of the art in building enclosure design and technology. Certain facade techniques and assemblies have predominated during this period. Many were necessitated by evolving climate standards and an awareness of the impact of buildings on carbon emissions. Others emerged from new economies of scale or more effective computational tools permeating the field. All display certain aesthetic affinities, pointing both to architecture’s past (e.g., stone and terra-cotta) and its future (bird-safe glass). To celebrate Facades+’s anniversary, AN looks back at enclosure trends that defined the past decade.