Architectural Skin. Geometric Shapes and Patterns in Contemporary Architecture

Assuming Bruno Munari’s research as a starting point, the essay examines the expressive and compositional aspects of building envelopes in contemporary architecture. With a particular focus on the elements of curtain walls, the aim is to trace even the most complex structures back to simple geometric shapes. The intent is not their representation or graphic reproduction but the investigation of their geometric system, which allows us to analyze the rules underlying their mutation. This allows us to understand their structuring and their growth process. Observing analogies between simple geometric elements and their composition in complex forms makes it possible to identify common foundational and formative strategies. Kinetic and Programmed Art had a particular interest in objects’ variability, mutability and dynamism. Notable examples of this are the artistic research of the various collectives that sprung up in Italy and Europe. The works of these artists are conceived to be methodically programmed and serially reproduced, with a process very similar to the industrial one. The recent digital revolution applied to mechanical design has made it possible to transfer some of these artistic experiences to the world of architecture. Paneling and element tessellation techniques have enabled it to obtain a wealthy catalogue of curtain walls currently used in recent contemporary architecture. Complex geometric patterns that become architectural skins constitute one of the distinctive elements of contemporary architecture. Specifically, the study proposes to provide research based on the graphical analysis of the essential elements to identify the generative geometries of the building envelopes of contemporary architecture based on simple geometric features.