What do you think?
Rate this book
Construction Matters
Construction Matters examines the way that architects understand and respond to technological innovation through the creation of new types of spaces, and the materials through which an architectural idea finds its physical realization. Understanding the properties of different materials is indispensable for the creation of architecture that is original, powerful, and meaningful.
Organized into chapters on the major methods of construction-masonry, concrete, steel, and wood – Construction Matters examines specific technologies that experienced major transformations in the last century, or were newly a new material, jointing technique, or fabrication procedure for example. The architectural application of this invention is then analyzed with building case studies that are selected based on an obvious formal relationship between the building's form and the new type of construction that it incorporates – ranging from prewar designs in the United States and Europe to recent projects in Asia, and includes built projects as well as significant design proposals.
Construction Matters develops a way of thinking about architecture in relation to technology that transcends a particular building method or design task. The architect and educator Georg Windeck conducted independent research that ranges from scientific advancements to philosophical contemplations. The multi-facetted discussion that emerges from this work is developed in close collaboration with artist and journalist Lisa Larson Walker, with mathematician and architect Will Shapiro, and with artist and architect Sean Gaffney. If we are to rescue the physical substance of architecture–the Matter of Construction–and create a practice that celebrates both the physical and the metaphysical aspects of building, we must understand how and why construction matters.
Organized into chapters on the major methods of construction-masonry, concrete, steel, and wood – Construction Matters examines specific technologies that experienced major transformations in the last century, or were newly a new material, jointing technique, or fabrication procedure for example. The architectural application of this invention is then analyzed with building case studies that are selected based on an obvious formal relationship between the building's form and the new type of construction that it incorporates – ranging from prewar designs in the United States and Europe to recent projects in Asia, and includes built projects as well as significant design proposals.
Construction Matters develops a way of thinking about architecture in relation to technology that transcends a particular building method or design task. The architect and educator Georg Windeck conducted independent research that ranges from scientific advancements to philosophical contemplations. The multi-facetted discussion that emerges from this work is developed in close collaboration with artist and journalist Lisa Larson Walker, with mathematician and architect Will Shapiro, and with artist and architect Sean Gaffney. If we are to rescue the physical substance of architecture–the Matter of Construction–and create a practice that celebrates both the physical and the metaphysical aspects of building, we must understand how and why construction matters.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published August 18, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
March 14, 2017
Quite a new book here. Finally had the chance to add my thoughts on it. (Couldn't figure out how to update the cover image. Don't think I have access.) Superficially the book reads like a well-written building science textbook. However, it's so much more than that. I'm a bit bias toward the subject matter, but a copy came across my desk at the perfect time while conducting research on creativity in architecture last year. Too often we only see a structure's form as the only source of creativity in the project. Technology's use in design and construction has only served to further blur the different types of creativity engaged in the studio and construction site. I was beginning to worry I was the only one who had taken up the burden of promoting and studying all the different types of creativity one sees in architecture, engineering and construction industry, but thankfully this turns out not to be the case. Author Georg Windeck writes in the introduction, "Construction Matters refocuses the contemporary discourse about architectural aesthetics on the craft of building as a creative endeavor..."
There's a couple of things passionate book lovers and inspired designers will like about this book. Firstly, the buildings selected for the case studies are, for the most part, all outside of mainstream architectural history. I have so many architecture books and the same buildings get featured again and again. It was refreshing to see examples I hadn't heretowith been familiar with (in depth) before. Secondly, the writing really is quite good. I skipped over some of the building science material I was already familiar with (from being in the industry) but overall loved learning about how these buildings were made and their meaning. Lastly, the linework of the details and overall graphic design is excellent and a pleasure to look at. I'm a real stickler for well-rendered details and this book could easy serve as a reference for the topic. This is the sort of book that as we search for meaning and creativity in our technologically-advanced and digitally designed architecture guides us to those answers. Now the only question remaining is will there be another book in the same vien with all different buildings?
There's a couple of things passionate book lovers and inspired designers will like about this book. Firstly, the buildings selected for the case studies are, for the most part, all outside of mainstream architectural history. I have so many architecture books and the same buildings get featured again and again. It was refreshing to see examples I hadn't heretowith been familiar with (in depth) before. Secondly, the writing really is quite good. I skipped over some of the building science material I was already familiar with (from being in the industry) but overall loved learning about how these buildings were made and their meaning. Lastly, the linework of the details and overall graphic design is excellent and a pleasure to look at. I'm a real stickler for well-rendered details and this book could easy serve as a reference for the topic. This is the sort of book that as we search for meaning and creativity in our technologically-advanced and digitally designed architecture guides us to those answers. Now the only question remaining is will there be another book in the same vien with all different buildings?
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review