Behind the mask: Reconsidering a facade

The project «Behind The Mask: Reconsidering A Facade» was carried out within the framework of the Postgraduate Program Advanced Design of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and aims to explore the architectural facade and its possibilities and redefine them using the concept of masking, which covers and distorts the existing situation. In practice, a facade modifies environmental conditions, contributing to interior comfort and sustainable performance. It is often regarded merely as an architectural skin, the external face of a building, a functional but also a decorative boundary between the interior and the exterior, the private and the public space. Despite their functional importance, facades represent a dynamic mediator of cultural, social, and spatial interactions, as they directly imply information about the history and the culture of the city. They can be re-examined not as a static, still shell but as a dynamic and active feature in local identity. Due to their potential to conceal and reveal information, facades can form how a city is experienced and perceived. Within the project's framework, different facades of the waterfront of the center of Thessaloniki were utilized to reconsider their possibilities and alter their form and the clear boundaries they carry between the private and public spaces. On that account and through experimentation with characteristics and morphologies, the facades evolved into structural flowing masks that serve as secondary layers that conceal and interfere with the primary architectural surface. The experiments emphasize a more symbolic character and the redefinition of the relationship between interiority and exteriority.