Aesthetic Choices: Design Opportunities with Terra Cotta
Our first blog in this series explored the role malleability plays in the development of profile forms, and the forming methods used to make terra cotta units. The manufacturing process – informed by the architects’ intended design, construction, and attachment system – is also directed by aesthetic choices. In addition to material constraints that determine form and shape, terra cotta holds innate visual and tactile characteristics that make it a popular building material for both historic buildings and new construction.
The Depth of Profile
The high-plasticity ratio of terra cotta that makes it appealing for manufacturing efficiency is also a benefit when fashioning decorative features. Projections and recesses can be shaped using terra cotta with varying degrees of intensity, as illustrated by exaggerated grotesques — sculptural figures that ornament tall historic buildings. More modern structures forgo gargoyles for non-traditional elements that are no less dramatic, incorporating large expanses of curved forms or deep profiles to create rhythmic patterns and intense shadow. For designs that call for this kind of highly visual façade, Boston Valley can produce terra cotta units of many different lengths and depths.
“Dorothy,” the highly figural angel grotesque of 150 Nassau Street (LEFT) contrasts with the more subtle curving profile of 10 Bond Street’s façade (RIGHT).
The Warmth of Through-Body Color
As a geological material derived from the earth, terra cotta naturally displays a warmth that is expressed in the varied color range and texture of through-body clays. It is this non-uniformity that makes terra cotta a desirable building material to work with. Architects are drawn to the design potential of terra cotta’s natural color palette and textural qualities, with how well it can adapt to both contemporary and traditional building styles and materials.
Boston Valley consults with our clients to determine their acceptable color range, ensuring the material produced fits within their design goals. Anticipating this inherent range in the through-body color and designing within the parameters of the natural material is key to a successful final product.
Through-body color can also influence the appearance of terra cotta’s surface, as an undertone that shows through a translucent or semi-translucent glaze. This visually pleasing aesthetic has a wide appeal for new construction, presenting a timeless, organic feel not easily achieved by machined products.
This versatility lends itself to using terra cotta as a match or complement to older structures also made from terra cotta, stone, or even brick. Intentional applications of glaze and texture further refine the surface finish to achieve the desired effect. By taking advantage of terra cotta’s changeable nature, a newly constructed building or structural restoration can be carried out in historic districts while seamlessly blending past and present sensibilities.
The effect of terra cotta’s warm, natural tones when using through-body clay can be seen at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art (LEFT) and Howard Community College (RIGHT).
The Feeling of Finish Texture
On a more subtle scale than profile, texture provides its own impactful aesthetic opportunities through surface pattern and the interplay of light and shadow. Terra cotta’s natural ceramic finish achieved through the firing process has a unique tactile quality that can be further enhanced and modified using tools. Machine scored, saw-toothed, wire-struck, raked, ridged, and smooth are only some of the finishes Boston Valley offers for our terra cotta products. Each has its own impact on the finished surface.
At UB Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (LEFT) and Connecticut College (RIGHT), a combination of finish textures was applied to TerraClad® panels, creating variation for visual interest.
The Intensity of Glaze
Glaze application further expands the possibilities for façade design, offering unlimited ways to show terra cotta as a wholly unique material in color, sheen, and luminosity for striking results. One or more glazes can be layered to create complex depth, or pooled between profile contours for contrasting values.
Through custom glaze development, Boston Valley has fabricated replacement units with a high level of accuracy for historical structures. Economic and ecologic material concerns can be solved through glaze as well. By combining different glaze colors and application techniques with through-body and texture, terra cotta can be made to look like stone, concrete, brick, and other materials, making terra cotta façades a harmonious new building solution to complement historic districts.
Boston Valley’s Glaze Lab is able to accurately develop glazes for historic restoration and color matching: blue speckled glaze for Battersea Power Station (LEFT), and warm tan accented by red flecks for the Fisher Building (RIGHT).
On more than one occasion, high impact glazes have been used on signature structures to make quite an impression — rich, dark purple on Republic Plaza; black with burnished bronze tones for 512 West 22nd Street; and high-intensity shades of red on FDNY Rescue Company 2. Glaze in the same visual color family is not necessarily the same — the green glazes of Newman and Rathbone, The Ringling, and The Fitzroy are all very different formulas, each with unique expressions of vibrancy, translucency, and movement.
Visit our Glaze page to learn more about the perception of color through glaze, and how Boston Valley works with clients to develop custom glaze formulas for some of our more visually striking projects.
More vibrant glazes for contemporary builds are often popular with architects, as seen on FDNY Rescue Company 2 (TOP), Republic Plaza (LEFT), and 512 W 22nd Street (RIGHT).
By modifying or combining standard profile, color, finish, and glaze options, architectural terra cotta can achieve a wide range of looks — making it one of the most versatile materials found on any building façade. Working with Boston Valley and our Glaze Lab opens your design options exponentially, developing finishes, custom through-body colors, and glaze formulas to achieve your desired aesthetic, and making terra cotta one of the most versatile architectural façade materials found on any building.
Please contact a Boston Valley Terra Cotta representative to discuss your project details.
