ABSTRACT
It (architecture) constantly plays the seducer. Its disguises are numerous. Facades, arcades, squares, even architectural concepts become the artifacts of seduction. Like masks, they place a veil between what is assumed to be reality and its participants. So sometimes you desperately wish to read the reality behind the mask. Soon, however, you realize that no single understanding is possible. Once you uncover that which lies behind the mask, it is only to discover another mask. — Bernard Tschumi
What is the beauty of a building today? … the same as the beautiful face of a mindless woman: something mask-like. — Friedrich Nietzsche
The metaphor of the mask over the beautiful face is a powerful image for architecture that strives to move one into an experience of mystery and subsequent discovery. In a more negative mood, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari describe the mask as a negative force that hides the ugliness and inhumanity of the face. The mask is seen as primitive, a ritualistic transformation to animal.
