Building materials : material theory and the architectural specification / Katie Lloyd Thomas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lloyd Thomas, Katie, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Building materials.

Buildings--Specifications.

Buildings.

Architecture--Philosophy.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224 pages).

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021

Place of Publication:

London [England] : Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2021.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

"At a time of unprecedented levels of change in the production of building materials and their deployment in construction, better theoretical and historical tools are needed to understand these new developments and how they are altering the practices and concepts of architecture. Building Materials offers a radical rethink of how materials, as they are constituted in architectural practice, are themselves constructed and, in turn, uncovers a vast and neglected resource of architectural writing about materials as they are mobilised in architecture. The book is unique in conceiving architectural specification as a starting point for architectural theory, arguing that how materials are prescribed - through a range of practices from the literal processes of procurement and manufacture to epistemological, contractual, social and economic frameworks - radically alters their potential in architecture. Drawing on rare archival material from the work of French philosopher Gilbert Simondon the book reveals why materials do not pre-exist their shaping or use in the world, but come into being through the processes that constitute them. The book addresses three distinct methods of specification each through the lens of a different material ? 'naming' through timber, 'process-based' through concrete, and 'performance specification through' glass ? in turn revealing how the process of architectural specification (or 'Preliminary Operations' as Simondon puts it) allows for development of specific relationships between material and function."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Introduction. i) Preliminary operations ; ii) Preparations for a theory of materials

2. Arrangements of statements in the specification. i) From object to process: 18th and 19th century specifications ; ii) From means to ends: late 20th and 21st century specifications

3. Naming materials. i) From species to brand-names: changing practices of naming timber ; ii) Effects of changes in naming: the emergence of proprietary specification

4. Process. i) The process-based clause ; ii) Dynamic operations in process-based description ; iii) 'Rendered plastic by preparation': extra-physical operations

5. Performance. i) 'Grounded in such usefulness': material as equipment ; ii) 'For a given service': 'new glass performances'

6. Systems of material. i) Simondon's 'Complete system' ; ii) 'That constitutive seam'

7. Towards a theory of materials. i) On the transductive method ; ii) 'Going into the mould': Materials as technical systems.

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781350176256

9781350176249

OCLC:

1240681382

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.

Abstract freely available; full-text restricted to individual document purchasers.