by Christina Nobel, AIA

Summary: Architects are increasingly faced with shrinking influence, often only designing the building skin or an individual tenant improvement, but not necessarily both and not at the same time. As a result, Modernist desires for a direct connection between interior space and the exterior envelope can no longer be controlled by a single architect and the concept of a unified architectural project no longer has primary relevance to contemporary construction processes. This has led many architects to focus on architecture as a manipulation of surfaces as a relevant means for design and construction today.

How architects begin to wrestle with the appearance of this outermost layer can become a compelling story of its own. Forward 109—Ornament reveals approaches by contemporary (and a few historic) architects as they grapple with the question of ornament.