Product Description

After a century largely dominated by discussions of space and form, there is now renewed interest in the material and tectonic aspects of architecture. This richly illustrated and handsomely designed book takes a detailed and timely look at the importance of materials in architecture, focusing particularly on modern and contemporary buildings. Noted architecture expert Richard Weston begins with a brief cultural history of major building materials-such as timber, earth, stone, steel, and glass-exploring how they have been produced, considered, worked, and used in a variety of buildings and cultures. He then explores the ways that architects, theorists, and critics have articulated the relationship between materials and architectural forms and spaces throughout modern history. Other featured topics include the importance of place, time, junctions, finish, and meaning; the proposition that in an increasingly global and virtual world, many architects emphasize the material qualities of buildings to ensure a heightened sense of reality; and a comprehensive survey of current and prospective developments in materials, from refinements of such familiar materials as fiber-reinforced concrete and "intelligent" glass to new synthetic compounds and working methods. Together, these varied perspectives on the material art of building offer fascinating insights into the impact that the type and treatment of materials has on how buildings can be constructed and designed, how they function, and how they fare over time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #726893 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

About the Author
Richard Weston is Professorial Research Fellow at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. His previous books include several studies of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and the first comprehensive account of the work of Jorn Utzon, architect of the Sydney Opera House.

Customer Reviews

Insightful study on materiality in architecture
This is a great book that bridges the gap between the formal and aesthetic aspects of architecture and its `materiality', which is often neglected in the historical and theoretical analyses of architectural projects. In this wide ranging and fascinating essay that moves across different cultures and historical periods, Richard Weston weaves a compelling and fascinating story that makes connections and comparisons between the various ways builders and architects have used different materials, subject of course to different climatic and regional factors.
This intimate understanding of materiality may be missing in today's practice, and may in part be responsible for the superficiality of much of contemporary architectural production, despite Weston's introductory remark that in many contemporary projects, a `fascination with materials and the surfaces of buildings has displaced modern architects' familiar preoccupation with space and structure'.
The book is rich in detailed descriptions of specific projects, as for instance in discussing Carlo Scarpa's Querini Stampalia:
"In the main hall, which doubles as a small gallery, the floor is compartmented by lines of smooth concrete and then filled with variable-width rectangles of concrete, whose surface has been washed to reveal an aggregate of fine pebbles. Both materials turn up at right angles to form the lower section of the flanking walls, where they are edged with a strip of Istrian stone. Above, protected from all but the worst floods, the walls are clad with the slabs of travertine, cut across the grain to give a richly textured surface."
This book may not offer a busy `practitioner', as the previous reviewer, a hands-on index on materials and their properties, which it did not set out to do, but it offers a wealth of information, in addition to a theoretical understanding of the importance of materials in architecture.
In brief, this is a great and timely book for any student of architecture, but also for any practitioner seeking to go beyond the `surface' and to get a historical-theoretical background on the use, and significance, of different materials in architecture.

Nothing new
Vey disappointed in this book--as a design professional I need to be up to speed on new materials and be stimulated to try and use them in new and interesting ways in addition to having them be functional for my clients. There was nothing here that I found stimulating and materials were all ones that I was familiar with. May be more interesting for a homeowner looking to remodel and be able to discuss options with their architect or designer.