Facades

In Frankfurt's main shopping district, the Zeilgalerie shopping mall brightens up the night with thousands of programmable LEDs built into its new facade.

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles was built into a 1960s department store, and in the 90s the facade was fashioned to look like the grill of a vintage car. With new funds in hand, the museum wants something more "attention-grabbing".

Critic Christopher Hume says that "an architecture of openness" is overtaking Toronto, foregoing individual personality for a greater sense of community and connectivity.

Thomas Schielke, an architectural lighting expert, gives an inclusive overview of building facades that include media from the 1931 addition of color at the top of the Empire State Building to a 2010 building that converts brainwaves to light.

Through advancements in technology, digital facades are becoming significantly easier to implement on a wide variety of architectural projects. Programmable surfaces maybe a big part of the future of buildings.