Gropius and Le Corbusier had differing ideas with regards to the role of glazing in relation to a building's structure. Gropius saw the external surface as a membrane stretching over a structural frame, whereas Le Corbusier saw it as the surface of a solid. At the Maison Suisse, Le Corbusier used the glazing to fill the voids between the structural elements creating a solid, whereas at the Bauhaus workshops, Gropius used the glazing independently of the structure, creating an external skin free from the structure. Both these approaches have been used at Busáras. The Corbusian approach was used in the office blocks and pavilion storey while the station concourse was based on the ideals of Gropius. In the station concourse the glazing projects from floor to ceiling independently of the structural elements. The columns which support the concourse roof are kept one foot back from the glazing. The remainder of the plinth along Store Street also receives this treatment. Although faced with brick, these walls are not load-bearing as the internal columns support the mass of the structure. So these walls and windows act independently of the structure as an enclosing skin.
As with the Maison Suisse, the external façade of the Busáras offices is on the same vertical plane as the structure allowing the structure to be expressed externally. In the revised edition of The International Style a new guide was devised which was the articulation of the underlying structure. In Busáras, the underlying structure is visible in many areas such as the Bus Station concourse. Visible through the large expanse of glazing, the columns are clearly the underlying structure rather than just a surface expression of it. Throughout the rest of the building however, the structure is not as readily visible, until it is realised that the concrete fins between the windows are load bearing and an integral part of the structure. This articulation of structure divides the façade up into a series of rectangles to be filled with glazing. The major difference is that at Busáras the stone bands are vertical rather than horizontal, as the horizontal is concealed by the continuous glazing. Ironically, as at the Maison Suisse and Cité de Refuge, Busáras suffered badly from problems of solar gain during the summer, and the glazing eventually had to be adapted by the inclusion of tinted glass.
Like Le Corbusier (at the Maison Suisse) and J.P. Oud (at Kiefhook), Scott's team used small punched windows on the north-west façade of Busáras which express the weightiness and massiveness of the stone wall. At the Bauhaus, Gropius used the projection of the glass plane to make the structure appear lighter so, conversely, rebating the glass plane behind the plane of the wall makes the wall appear heavier.
Busáras also shares with Le Corbusier's work, a top-heaviness and a distribution of mass off the ground. While Busáras does not appear as top-heavy as the Maison Suisse, there is an impression of a huge weight supported above the ground. At Busáras, having the pavilion façades on different vertical planes to the office block, reduces the apparent weight and mass of the structure as does the filling in of the ground floor. At the Maison Suisse, Le Corbusier places solid planes around the rooftop terraces in continuity with the main façades. Although like the Maison Suisse, in that the main structure is placed on pilotis, Scott has, in the manner of Gropius, filled in the ground area, incorporating the space internally.
Original sketches show the endwalls of Busáras with a very similar stone veneer pattern as the Maison Suisse. The major difference was that Le Corbusier placed the narrow bands just beneath the opening panels in the windows, while at Busáras they expressed the positioning of the floors. However, as the design evolved, this was discarded and the cladding pattern, although different, shows a definite debt to Le Corbusier. If, as suggested by Patrick Abercrombie, Scott's team had placed a concave curve on the south endwall, the similarity to the Maison Suisse would have been increased with the its curving north wall and small windows.