Facade

A facade (/fəˈsɑːd/) is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. It comes from the French word façade which literally means "frontage" or "face".

In architecture, the facade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. From the engineering perspective of a building, the facade is also of great importance due to its impact on energy efficiency. For historical facades, many local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration.

Etymology

The word comes from the French word façade, which in turn comes from the Italian facciata, from faccia meaning face, ultimately from post-classical Latin facia. The earliest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is 1656.

Georgian facades added to earlier buildings

It was quite common in the Georgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new facade. For example, in the city of Bath, The Bunch of Grapes in Westgate Street appears to be a Georgian building, but the appearance is only skin deep and some of the interior rooms still have Jacobean plasterwork ceilings.

Façade (film)

Façade is a 2000 action/thriller movie.

The film contains strong sexuality and language.

Plot

A real estate developer (Eric Roberts) sells out his partner/buddy in order to clear the path for the construction of a hotel in the Malibu hills. However he slowly finds out that all the characters he's plotting with in order to build the hotel have recently escaped from a nearby insane asylum.

Cast

Façade (interactive story)

Façade is an artificial-intelligence-based interactive story created by Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern. It was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Slamdance Independent Games Festival and has been exhibited at several international art shows. In 2010, it was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

Overview

Façade puts the player in the role of a close friend of Trip and Grace, a couple who recently invited the player to their home for cocktails. This pleasant gathering, however, is somewhat damaged by the clear domestic confrontation between Grace and Trip upon the player's entry. Making full use of the incorporated language processing software, Façade allows the player to type sentences to "speak" with the couple, either supporting them through their troubles, driving them farther apart, or being thrown out of the apartment.

Incorporating elements of both interactivity and drama, Façade takes advantage of voice acting and a 3-D environment, as well as natural language processing and other advanced artificial intelligence routines, to provide a robust interactive fiction experience. The player can take an active role in the conversation, pushing the topic one way or another, as in an interactive stage-play. These stage-plays are stored as script text files which can be read after the player has finished.