Selected Bibliography Architecture - Form Space and Order | Page 37

PL ANAR ELEMENTS

S. Maria Novella, Florence, 1456–70.
The Renaissance facade by Alberti presents a public face to a square.

Exterior wall planes isolate a portion of space to create a controlled interior
environment. Their construction provides both privacy and protection from the
climatic elements for the interior spaces of a building, while openings within or
between their boundaries reestablish a connection with the exterior environment. As exterior walls mold interior space, they simultaneously shape exterior
space and describe the form, massing, and image of a building in space.

Uffizi Palace, 1560–65, Giorgio Vasari.
This Florentine street defined by the two wings of the Uffizi
Palace links the Piazza della Signoria with the River Arno.

As a design element, the plane of an exterior wall can be articulated as the
front or primary facade of a building. In urban situations, these facades serve
as walls that define courtyards, streets, and such public gathering places as
squares and marketplaces.

Piazza of San Marco, Venice.
The continuous facades of buildings form
the “walls” of the urban space.
22 / A R C H I TE C TU R E : F O R M , S PA C E , & O R D E R