Foreword

Part A The fundamentals

Sketch for the Schocken department store, Stuttgart (DE) 1929, Erich Mendelsohn Whatever specific and very different facade designs may result from particular technologies and materials, there are also general rules and interdependencies that arise out of a building’s basic functions, the type of loads and stresses imposed on it, the logic of its structure and the way it fits together, its geometric order, options for using prefabricated elements and physical effects. These rules and interdependencies are overarching principles of general and fundamental significance, so we present them here before describing some completed buildings in detail.