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If you think of facade design as the “envelope” or skin of a building, whether commercial, residential or mixed-use, you’ve pretty much got the idea. Planned and executed properly, an entire area can be thematic in design: the use of similar materials, colors and trim can draw together a neighborhood so that it is recognizable as part of a whole.

Although a storefront will never look the same as a house (and it shouldn’t), repeated architectural items such as false gables to raise roof lines and decorative door and window treatments can act as a distinct while unifying style. Even different floor heights can be disguised, which is especially useful when working on connected buildings.

The location of the building, in addition to its use, must be considered in facade design. If you are in a beachfront, pedestrian-friendly mixed-use neighborhood, natural earth tone materials like sandstone and wood, with inviting canopies for shade and bursts of color with plantings, are preferable to sleek steel and glass.

Many designers use water, and this feature can be implemented in nearly any plan and for varying reasons. Fountains can reduce traffic noise and create height, for instance, while ponds with small waterfalls invite people to sit for a while.

Facade design can even be used as a criminal deterrent. If a building is constantly covered with graffiti, planners might suggest the simple, yet effective, solution of a trellis with climbing plants.

As long as the trellis is strong enough to hold the vegetation in place, while being too lightweight to support a person who might try climbing on it, graffiti (and the resulting work and cost of painting over it) should be a thing of the past.

Experts in facade design are always on the look-out for improved energy performance in the “envelopes” which they create (especially pertaining to glass facades), while attempting to address environmental aspects (such as light pollution, for instance) and remain within budget and building code regulations.

Maintenance is another consideration as is the durability of the facade, which goes back to the basic material used and the cost factor once more.

The portal can be one of the most impressive points of design — it is where the process of being outside to going inside begins, and can vary structurally from gateways (often formed in the shape of an arch), or columns, to simple changes in a paving pattern or the level of a walkway.

Paths can become narrow and act as a funnel, directing pedestrian traffic. Strategically placed, statues, large plants and urns, can in fact become part of this funneling process, leading us forward, from the facade to the building interior.