000			02174cam a22001698i 4500
020			_a9781350176225
020			_a9781350277830
082	0	0	_a620.11 _bLLO _cDon by ENcS Branch.
100	1		_aLloyd Thomas, Katie,
245	1	0	_aBuilding Materials : _bMaterial Theory and the Architectural Specification / _cKatie Lloyd Thomas.
300			_avolumes cm
505	0		_aSpecifying building materials -- Naming materials -- Process -- Performance -- Systems of material -- Going into the mould.
520			_a"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 mobilized 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 the work of French philosopher Gilbert Simondon, as well as rare archival materials of specifications, 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"--
650		0	_aBuilding materials.
650		0	_aArchitecture _xPhilosophy.
942			_cBK
999			_c15983 _d15983