Designing with Through-Body Colors
When working with architects, building owners, and designers to achieve a desired aesthetic, the topic quickly falls to the color of the façade. Boston Valley manages the color for terra cotta façades during fabrication using two means — through-body color and glaze.
Through-body color refers to the color of the terra cotta itself, which is the same from surface to body all the way through the unit, be it panel, block, or tile. This unique color is achieved through a combination of clay, minerals, and stains that are fired to form a permanent bond. As a result of the firing process, through-body colors experience zero color fade due to UV exposure. Boston Valley has developed proprietary clay mixes in standard through-body colors, to offer a variety of color options available for fabrication.
An Inherent Variation
As a natural product mined from the earth, terra cotta should not be expected to present a uniform or “manufactured” finish. Components of the material and firing process produce an inherent color variability in both clay body and glaze that makes terra cotta a truly beautiful building material. Boston Valley works with our clients to clarify the color range of their selection to ensure that it fits within their design goals.
This variability is a desirable characteristic when designing with terra cotta. While it is common to use the unglazed through-body as the finished façade, the panel or unit can also receive a texture and/or glaze to create a more complex, layered color palette.
A Charcoal through-body is layered with an applied glaze to create a unique metallic effect. This unit is part of the 512 West 22nd Street façade in NYC.
When modifying the surface with a texture, an interplay of light and shadow will affect the visual appearance of a through-body color. Glaze applied to the surface of a terra cotta unit further modifies the effect — in fact, the through-body color can influence the look of the glaze application.
All these qualities — the unit’s profile and shape, surface texture, glaze opacity and sheen, through-body color — interact to add life and character to a building’s façade.
A shiplap profile panel on a Pebble through-body was used for 138 East 50th Street in NYC.
Standard Colors Are Just the Start
Among the reasons designers choose to work with terra cotta, one is the ability to customize the material to achieve the proposed design. Architectural terra cotta can produce highly versatile shape, color, and finish options that offer solutions for a variety of façade styles, from unique high-performance building envelopes to traditional masonry and rainscreen systems.
Boston Valley TerraClad® and TerraPreCast® product lines are available in a range of standard through-body colors, specifically developed to provide a broad range of options applicable to nearly any color story. With the addition of our latest standard color, Rosewood, Boston Valley Terra Cotta adds to our array of through-body colors that, when paired with texture and glaze finish, can offer virtually unlimited design possibilities.
Boston Valley’s newest through-body color, Rosewood.
Meeting with your terra cotta manufacturer early in the development process can help you to pinpoint your design intent and determine how to achieve the aesthetic within your budget. Our full range of through-body colors can be viewed here, or contact our sales team to request samples.
