The Concept of Edge as Design’s Power to Create Building’s Surface

This text supports the notion of edge as design’s power to create building’s epidermis, based on the archaeological reasoning method [1]. The first section revisits the meaning of ‘edge’ to understand how to use it in design method, namely the semantical dimension of the word between interior and exterior, qualifying the need to rationalize the orders of architecture as Benjamino Vignola stated. To understand the concept applied to design involves revisiting Vitruvius’s treaty. To recognize the concept of ‘edge’ in its real meaning involves understanding the surface as a complex organism. It implies addressing the experience of knowledge through cultural symbols and the media. The second section of the text presents a phenomenological understanding of the ‘skin’ and the ‘epidermis’ concepts. These two hypotheses propose considering new orders of architecture, in particular focusing on the new levels of architecture due to their semantic value. Elements with symbolic value, evoking historical experiences, intertwine and the creation of systems, referenced according to the context needs. To support this view, we aim to demonstrate that design enables the external surface of a building to be an image hypothesis, something ever renewable and embryonic. An efficient project, to the extent that it is productive and sustainable because it provides meaning for human life. Three case studies involving design graduate students illustrate this notion. The text ends with a reference to interpretation as a method for design that includes different types of analysis, and reflections and connotations.