Material Matters : Architecture and Material Practice

Bringing together texts and work by theorists and practitioners who are making material central to their work, this book reflects the diverse areas of inquiry which are expanding current material discourse. Focusing on the cultural, political, economic, technological and intellectual forces which shape material practices in architecture, the contributors draw on disciplines ranging from philosophy, history and pedagogy to art practice and digital and low-tech fabrication. By paying critical attention to material, a wide range of issues emerge which are otherwise excluded from architectural discourse, issues that shape and determine the buildings we make, the processes we use and the ways we understand them. Beautifully illustrated and designed, this book is a unique collection which will be of great interest to architectural practitioners and theorists who want to consider the wider implications of material practice, and to students who are developing their own approach to making buildings. Introduction : Architecture And Material Practice / Katie Lloyd Thomas -- Plans To Matter : Towards A History Of Material Possibility / Andrew Benjamin -- A Royal Gittern At The British Museum / Niall Mclaughlin -- Gordon Matta-clark : Matter, Materiality, Entropy, Alchemy / Stephen Walker -- Plenums : Re-thinking Matter, Geometry And Subjectivity / Peg Rawes -- Marx Matters, Or, Aesthetics, Technology, And The Spirit Of Matter / Jon Goodbun -- The Thinking Hand / Raoul Bunschoten -- Material Imprecision / Elizabeth Shotton -- Pumping Up : Digital Steroids And The Design Studio / Scott Poole -- A Philosophy Of Engagement : Developing A Strategic Ability Through Direct Engagement With Material, Process And Collective Action / Alan Chandler -- Workshops -- Surface Structures In The Digital Age : Studies In Ferrocement / Martin Bechthold -- Out Of Control : The Media Of Architecture, Cybernetics And Design / Pablo Miranda Carranza -- The Methodology Of Construction : The Gentleman's Tailor And The Home Sewer / Rachel Cruise -- Re-fabrications / Richard Wilson -- Between Birds' Nests And Manor Houses : Edwardian Cape Town And The Political Nature Of Building Materials / Nicholas Coetzer -- Concrete As The Conduit Of Experience At The Brunswick, London / Clare Melhuish -- Unpleasant Matters / Helen Stratford -- Life Matters Making Place / Doina Petrescu -- Material Responsibility And The Work Of Rural Studio / Andrew Freear -- The New And The Renewed / Susannah Hagan. Edited By Katie Lloyd Thomas. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

Bringing together texts and work by theorists and practitioners who are making material central to their work, this book reflects the diverse areas of inquiry which are expanding current material discourse. Focusing on the cultural, political, economic, technological and intellectual forces which shape material practices in architecture, the contributors draw on disciplines ranging from philosophy, history and pedagogy to art practice and digital and low-tech fabrication.

By paying critical attention to material, a wide range of issues emerge which are otherwise excluded from architectural discourse, issues that shape and determine the buildings we make, the processes we use and the ways we understand them.

Beautifully illustrated and designed, this book is a unique collection which will be of great interest to architectural practitioners and theorists who want to consider the wider implications of material practice, and to students who are developing their own approach to making buildings.

This book examines the use of materials in architecture, considering their meaning, implications, influences and practical use, going beyond a simple technical view to discover the forces that shape 'the stuff of building'.