CONSTRUCTION MATTERSConstruction 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 invented: 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. |
