The Dilemma of Representation Through Facades

The exterior surface of a building -façade- as a communicative ground reflects the burdened meaning of its structure. Besides communicative capacity of façade, its independency, individuality and image dominancy can define exterior surface as an autonomous architectural element in terms of both physical and moral freedom. However, in the twenty-first century, this autonomy has undermined by globalization, technology and communication tools which are among the rapidly increasing activities of the century. Location of architecture in economic transactions and financial market has caused a loss in its internal dynamics and value system. The endeavor of providing the visual appeal only through the façade formation has caused the transformation in the dependency of exterior surface being devoid of content and context. The surfaces have been treated as changeable and renewable advertisement grounds concentrating on the visual appeal of the product, whether the aim is marketing, advertising or commercializing. Thus, the link between architecture and social structures has weakened through the commodification of the end product. In this framework, aim of this paper is (a) to make the description of façade, (b) to define the autonomy of façade through its physical and moral independency by examining cases and (c) to put forward a logical argument on the aspects which make façade an element pursuing only the visual pleasure by oversimplifying its significance in the generation of architectural idea.