The word “quality” was borrowed from the Latin term “qualitas” in the 16th century meaning nature or characteristic. From the 17th century onwards, the term was widely used in commercial language to refer to characteristics or attributes and came to have a subtle variety of specialist meanings. When we talk about quality today, the meaning is usually not restricted to describing a particular characteristic; we use the term as an appraisal, to make a value judgement regarding merit.

According to Aristotle in his “Nichomachean Ethics”, most people derive satisfaction from doing something well. In almost everything we do, our desire to achieve outstanding results plays a part. Quality is a promise, the recognition of value and reliability. How can you recognise good quality? Obviously, functionality is a factor, however, does not suffice on its own. An attractive looking table, neither lopsided nor wobbly, is obviously poor quality if it falls apart after one week. Therefore, durability is an indication of quality just as is continuity.

In this edition of Forms & Elements we would like to show you projects which focus on these three facets of quality – in terms of the cladding material itself, the quality of the façade design and the façade assembly.