About Fassade

Fassade

Fassade is a German specialist trade magazine for planners, architects, civil engineers, metal builders and processors, published by Verlagsanstalt Handwerk in Düsseldorf and appearing six times a year. Founded in 1992, the magazine covers the building envelope in all its facets – from planning and realization through maintenance and refurbishment – addressing facade elements, windows, doors, gates and sun protection across every material and construction type, from glass and post-and-rail facades to ventilated rainscreen systems, thermal insulation composite systems, exposed concrete and timber facades. It is complemented by the digital portal FASSADE Aktuell at die-fassade.de, which publishes news and current developments from the facade industry.

Overview

Fassade is the trade journal for everyone professionally involved with the building envelope: architects and planners who design facades, civil engineers who calculate them, metal builders and processors who fabricate and install them, and the decision-makers in industry, trade and public administration who procure them. The magazine appears six times a year, each issue treating the facade as a complete system – the building envelope with its components of facade elements, windows, doors, gates and sun protection.

What distinguishes the title is its comprehensive material and construction coverage. No single facade technology dominates the pages: glass facades and post-and-rail constructions appear alongside ventilated rainscreen facades (VHF), thermal insulation composite systems (WDVS), exposed concrete and timber facades. Every material and every construction method gets its place, from planning through realization to maintenance and refurbishment. This breadth reflects the reality of the facade profession, where practitioners must master traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge building physics alike.

The editorial readership is professional through and through: planners, architects, civil engineers, metal builders and processors, plus the decision-makers from industry, commerce and public administration who specify, commission and maintain facades. The magazine thus sits at the intersection of architecture, engineering and craftsmanship, translating technical developments into actionable knowledge for the people who actually build and maintain the building skin.

The digital extension, FASSADE Aktuell at die-fassade.de, carries the brand into continuous coverage: the portal publishes industry news and current developments – company news, personnel changes, technical forums, product innovations and trade fair coverage – keeping the facade professional informed between print issues. The portal is presented as the specialist portal for planning, fabrication and installation of facade elements, extending the magazine's authority into daily industry journalism.

History

The magazine was launched in 1992, at a moment when facade technology was undergoing rapid transformation: energy efficiency was becoming a central building concern, new materials and system solutions were entering the market, and the building envelope was evolving from a craft product into a high-tech system. Fassade positioned itself from the start as the specialist journal for this entire world – for the planners, architects, engineers and metal builders who make facades, and the decision-makers who commission them.

From its earliest years the magazine was published by Verlagsanstalt Handwerk GmbH, the Düsseldorf-based specialist publishing house that also publishes the sister titles Fenster+Glas, RTS Magazin and FoWi. The publisher is led by Rüdiger Gottschalk, and the combination of trade journals under one roof has given Fassade a stable home within a publisher deeply rooted in the crafts and construction sector.

Editorial continuity has been a hallmark: Jens Meyerling has served as editor-in-chief since 2010, guiding the magazine through a decade and a half of industry change – the rise of building-integrated photovoltaics, tightening energy regulations, digitalization of planning with BIM, the growing importance of sustainability and circular construction, and the transformation of the sun-protection industry. Under his editorship the magazine has kept its focus on the practical intersection of planning, fabrication and installation, where technical knowledge meets craft execution.

Over more than three decades the magazine has documented the evolution of the facade from a passive building skin into an active, energy-producing, climate-regulating system. Topics that barely existed in 1992 – BIPV facades, green facades on thermal insulation composite systems, heat protection as a planning criterion, facade greening, circularity and the digital planning of envelopes – are today standard coverage. The magazine has accompanied its industry through every phase of this transformation while keeping its core identity: the specialist journal for everyone who works with the building envelope.

A note on the web presence: the domain fassade-online.de, which once served the magazine, now redirects to a building materials shop, while the magazine's active portal operates at die-fassade.de under the FASSADE Aktuell brand. This reflects the publisher's consolidation of its digital facade coverage into a unified platform that serves the magazine's print readers and the wider online audience alike.

Content and Sections

Each issue of Fassade treats the building envelope as a complete system. The coverage spans the entire lifecycle of a facade: planning and design, realization and installation, maintenance and refurbishment. The material scope is deliberately broad – glass facades, post-and-rail facades, ventilated rainscreen facades (VHF), thermal insulation composite systems (WDVS), exposed concrete facades and timber facades – ensuring that no construction method and no material is left out.

Technical topics dominate: facade elements, windows, doors, gates and sun protection in all their variants. The magazine reports on new products and system solutions, on construction details and installation techniques, on standards and technical guidelines, and on the regulatory framework that governs the building envelope – from energy codes to fire protection, from fall protection to accessibility.

Current developments shape the agenda: building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), which turn facades, roofs and glazing into energy-generating surfaces; facade greening on thermal insulation composite systems, for which industry associations have issued new guidance; the transformation of sun-protection manufacturers and their product ranges; company news from the industry's suppliers and fabricators; and the major trade fairs that structure the industry's calendar – R+T in Stuttgart, Fensterbau Frontale in Nuremberg, BAU in Munich and the Leipzig denkmal fair for heritage conservation.

The magazine's sister titles within Verlagsanstalt Handwerk extend the coverage: Fenster+Glas covers the window industry with technical articles and guidelines, RTS Magazin serves the roller-shutter and sun-protection sector, and FoWi covers film-based products. Together they form a publishing cluster that addresses the building envelope from complementary angles, with Fassade as the journal that brings them all together in the architectural and engineering perspective.

Publisher and Organization

Fassade is published by Verlagsanstalt Handwerk GmbH, the Düsseldorf-based specialist publishing house for the crafts and construction sector, led by Rüdiger Gottschalk. The publisher's portfolio centers on trade journals for the building trades: alongside Fassade it publishes Fenster+Glas for the window industry, RTS Magazin for roller shutters and sun protection, and FoWi for film-based products, all served through the shared digital infrastructure and the Digithek subscription platform.

The editorial responsibility for Fassade lies with editor-in-chief Jens Meyerling, who has led the magazine since 2010. The magazine carries the ISSN 0941-7796 in print and appears six times a year, positioned as the specialist journal for planners, architects, civil engineers, metal builders and processors, plus the industry, trade and public-administration decision-makers who commission and maintain facades.

The publishing house's digital strategy is visible in the FASSADE Aktuell portal and the shared Digithek platform, which manages digital subscriptions and e-papers for the publisher's titles. The print magazine, the online portal and the digital editions form an integrated specialist medium for the facade industry – print for depth, the portal for timeliness, the digital edition for convenience.

Digital Presence

The digital face of Fassade is the portal FASSADE Aktuell at die-fassade.de, presented as the specialist portal for the planning, fabrication and installation of facade elements. The portal publishes daily industry coverage: company news such as management changes at facade and sun-protection manufacturers, technical developments like building-integrated photovoltaics and new industry guidelines, event announcements for trade fairs and technical forums, and portraits of industry figures.

The portal is organized around the publisher's brand family: FASSADE Aktuell for the facade industry, Fenster+Glas Aktuell for the window sector, RTS Aktuell for roller shutters and sun protection, and FoWi Aktuell for film-based products. This structure lets readers follow their specialist segment while the Fassade brand keeps its overarching position for the building envelope as a whole.

Digital subscriptions and e-papers are managed through the publisher's Digithek platform, where readers can subscribe to the magazine's digital edition and access archived issues. The integration of print and digital – the magazine for in-depth technical treatment, the portal for daily news, the e-paper for mobile reading – reflects the standard specialist-publisher model adapted to an audience of architects, engineers and craftspeople who need both reference depth and current awareness.

With its combination of a three-decade print tradition and a daily-updated digital portal, Fassade serves as the continuous specialist companion of the German-speaking facade profession – the journal the industry consults when the building envelope is the subject, from the first sketch to the last screw.