Surface Architecture

by David Leatherbarrow, Mohsen Mostafavi

A study of the building surface, architecture's primary instrument of identity and engagement with its surroundings. Visually, many contemporary buildings either reflect their systems of production or recollect earlier styles and motifs. This division between production and representation is in some ways an extension of that between modernity and tradition. In this book, David Leatherbarrow and Mohsen Mostafavi explore ways that design can take advantage of production methods such that architecture is neither independent of nor dominated by technology. Leatherbarrow and Mostafavi begin with the theoretical and practical isolation of the building surface as the subject of architectural design. The autonomy of the surface, the "free facade," presumes a distinction between the structural and nonstructural elements of the building, between the frame and the cladding. Once the skin of the building became independent of its structure, it could just as well hang like a curtain, or like clothing. The focus of the relationship between structure and skin is the architectural surface. In tracing the handling of this surface, the authors examine both contemporary buildings and those of the recent past. Architects discussed include Albert Kahn, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Alison and Peter Smithson, Alejandro de la Sota, Robert Venturi, Jacques Herzog, and Pierre de Meuron. The properties of a building's surface -- whether it is made of concrete, metal, glass, or other materials -- are not merely superficial; they construct the spatial effects by which architecture communicates. Through its surfaces a building declares both its autonomy and its participation in its surroundings.

Genres: Architecture

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Sfspearman Spearman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book by one of my favorite professors- David Leatherbarrow. Astute and fresh observations on exterior architecture. I refer to it often.

[Try Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a time when almost all of the elements used in the building process are pre-made in a factory or workshop, architectural construction has become a process
of assembly. No longer does site labor involve the cutting, joining, and finishing
of “raw materials”; instead it entails the installation of components that have been
preformed and prefabricated somewhere other than the building site.
Construction these days tends to be largely a dry not a wet process, the elements
of which are not only precise and exact but meant for specific assembly
procedures.
The book is narratived of style of facades from Le Cobusier, to functional of glazing of Mies van de Rohe, to formless of Frank Gehry.

[Anthony Caicco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just unbelievably... To anyone in architecture, this book should be a definite read.