How to design the ideal facade?

Asha Bogenfuerst Asha Bogenfuerst
Bartolache 1944, Miguel de la Torre Arquitectos Miguel de la Torre Arquitectos Casas modernas
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Whether you are designing your new home or want to remodel the home in which you currently live, the facade is one of the key elements of architectural design. It is the letter of introduction of your home to the outside world. There are also several practical points to consider so that you can get the most out of it.

The first step is to define the style of your facade to match the look of your home whether modern, minimalist or colonial. There are also certain aspects that we will review in this article as security, functionality and lighting that are important to consider for the design of your facade.

How to design a facade?

Designing a facade can be a complex process that is best carried out with a professional such as an architect or an interior designer because of the amount of choices of colour, materials, lines and geometric shapes involved.

Choose a style for your facade

The first step is to choose a style for your façade, preferably matching what you already have or have in mind for your future home. If your style sways to the modern you can start by looking at homify ideas of facades that appeal to you either because of its combination of finishes or its general aesthetic.

Once you have chosen if you want a contemporary, rustic, colonial or some other combination, then you can choose materials. There are many combinations that involve brick, concrete, wood or metal, among others. Each one allows you different results in sight and also for other aspects such as security and quantity of privacy that you will achieve with your facade.

What aspects should I take care of?

When you determine how you want your facade you should ask the following questions. How much security do I want? If you live in a gated community for example you are more likely to need less security than at street level, your needs for security should define the height of the main fence, or if your facade is open or closed. 

Privacy

In a related way is the question of the privacy that you want to achieve with your facade. If you have many neighbors and live on a populated street you may want to decrease the number of windows open to the outside, while if you live in a zone with less density maybe you can have larger windows to achieve better lighting in the interior. 

Functionality and lighting

Functionality is another element to take into account. Your facade can be only the front door or also have a part that is a covered garage to shelter your cars.

Finally, lighting is also a fundamental point. You must think about your façade at night and day, both from the aesthetic point of view – that is, which parts you want to accentuate with lights such as a fountain or special garden feature- and from the practical point of view as in you have to walk out your front door to make sure there are enough lights.


Matching colours

Casa Xafix / Arkylab homify Casas modernas

The colour palette for your exterior will depend to a large extent on the style you have preferred in your home and depends as much on the paint you choose as on the materials and their finishes. There are dark and light bricks, and concrete can be gray or tinted with some color, just like wood, so playing with coatings you can get different visual effects. 

Neutral colour base

Choosing a neutral colour as a base, such as white or gray combined with some accent colour like red for example can be a good way to give the facade a greater personality . This works especially well if your house is contemporary in design. 

Bright colours for facades

If you have an Indian colonial house you can take advantage of the beautiful combinations that exist in that architecture There are very beautiful combinations that can look great based on a strong colour like orange or blue with details on edges or blank bows.

Plants on facades

Fachada ARQUIPLAN Casas unifamiliares Fachadas

Creating a garden on your facade can be an excellent and accessible way to transform your facade and make it more attractive. If you are just thinking about the exterior design of your house, do not forget the natural part that will welcome you every day when entering your home.

Best plants for your facade

You can consult a gardener or a local nursery to know which are the best plants for your facade. Take into account the amount of sun you will receive and choose some that are low care unless you are an experienced gardener. If you buy flowers, ask also for the colours and the season in which they bloom.

Plants for the entrance

You can choose to place pots where the plants already have a designated place or if you want something more simple, choose colourful pots where you can have a diversity of plants as well as textures to add to your facade.

Organic figures

In the beginning, houses used to have a very direct symmetry in their facade, that is to say the door in the center and the windows distributed to both sides, but today these rules have ceased to exist.

However, part of the beauty and visual achievement of a facade has to do with the balance and symmetry that the design achieves. For this, it is important to take care of the different elements like door, roads and columns so that it is positioned in the most aesthetically pleasing way.

Modern facades

Sometimes modern facades may seem sterile or very cold because of the materials that are usually used such as metal, aluminum or cement. One way to make modern facades warmer is to add wood either in the door or other coatings to balance the coldness of the other finishes.

To give more personality to your modern façade, you can not only use different colours and materials but also play with the geometric shapes provided by each element to give depth and add interest to your exterior.

Where to find experts on house façades?

The facade is a delicate element and involves many different aspects of design so it is best to consult an architect to support you in the design process. You can consult and save here in homify images of those facades that you have liked before consulting one or several professionals of the field to land the proposal with them. 

For more inspiration and ideas on architecture, have a look at How to design neomodern architecture. 

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