Katie Lloyd Thomas - Böcker

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.

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.

Building Sites addresses the urgent need to advance the critical understanding of relations between architectural design and the labour of building. While recognising that in many parts of the world building takes place through self-organised processes and traditional skills, the book questions a central and problematic omission in architectural discourse, education and practice – the production of buildings and the erasure of construction labour entailed by that omission. Through its engagement with the groundbreaking work of the architect and theorist Sérgio Ferro, who developed a history of architecture ‘seen from the building site’, the book sets out a programme for a new field of Production Studies for architecture and other disciplines.First, the field requires careful research into the production of the built environment – at the construction site, in the factory, in the design office and beyond. This volume explores historical and contemporary cases from Brazil, the UK, Yugoslavia, Germany, India, Mexico and the USA. Second, the book asks why the disciplinary silencing of production prevails. In Ferro’s view, the tendency of architectural discourse to ignore issues of labour and processes of construction is no mere oversight but rather a structural necessity for maintaining the profession’s capacity to act ‘on’ and ‘over’ the building site, a necessity arising organically from the development of capitalism. Turning also to Morris, Harvey, Chakrabarty and Malm, the collection provides the first sustained English-language engagement with Ferro’s theories and critiques. Chapters on radical pedagogies, unions and political alliances, and alternative forms of building take the third step – to respond to contemporary crises. Production Studies must mobilise its understanding to seek alternatives and work towards change.

Building Sites addresses the urgent need to advance the critical understanding of relations between architectural design and the labour of building. While recognising that in many parts of the world building takes place through self-organised processes and traditional skills, the book questions a central and problematic omission in architectural discourse, education and practice – the production of buildings and the erasure of construction labour entailed by that omission. Through its engagement with the groundbreaking work of the architect and theorist Sérgio Ferro, who developed a history of architecture ‘seen from the building site’, the book sets out a programme for a new field of Production Studies for architecture and other disciplines.First, the field requires careful research into the production of the built environment – at the construction site, in the factory, in the design office and beyond. This volume explores historical and contemporary cases from Brazil, the UK, Yugoslavia, Germany, India, Mexico and the USA. Second, the book asks why the disciplinary silencing of production prevails. In Ferro’s view, the tendency of architectural discourse to ignore issues of labour and processes of construction is no mere oversight but rather a structural necessity for maintaining the profession’s capacity to act ‘on’ and ‘over’ the building site, a necessity arising organically from the development of capitalism. Turning also to Morris, Harvey, Chakrabarty and Malm, the collection provides the first sustained English-language engagement with Ferro’s theories and critiques. Chapters on radical pedagogies, unions and political alliances, and alternative forms of building take the third step – to respond to contemporary crises. Production Studies must mobilise its understanding to seek alternatives and work towards change.

At a time when the technologies and techniques of producing the built environment are undergoing significant change, this book makes central architecture’s relationship to industry. Contributors turn to historical and theoretical questions, as well as to key contemporary developments, taking a humanities approach to the Industries of Architecture that will be of interest to practitioners and industry professionals, as much as to academic researchers, teachers and students. How has modern architecture responded to mass production? How do we understand the necessarily social nature of production in the architectural office and on the building site? And how is architecture entwined within wider fields of production and reproduction—finance capital, the spaces of regulation, and management techniques? What are the particular effects of techniques and technologies (and above all their inter-relations) on those who labour in architecture, the buildings they produce, and the discursive frameworks we mobilise to understand them?

At a time when the technologies and techniques of producing the built environment are undergoing significant change, this book makes central architecture’s relationship to industry. Contributors turn to historical and theoretical questions, as well as to key contemporary developments, taking a humanities approach to the Industries of Architecture that will be of interest to practitioners and industry professionals, as much as to academic researchers, teachers and students. How has modern architecture responded to mass production? How do we understand the necessarily social nature of production in the architectural office and on the building site? And how is architecture entwined within wider fields of production and reproduction—finance capital, the spaces of regulation, and management techniques? What are the particular effects of techniques and technologies (and above all their inter-relations) on those who labour in architecture, the buildings they produce, and the discursive frameworks we mobilise to understand them?

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 close readings of everyday specifications from the 18th to 21st centuries, the book reveals that 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 the development of specific relationships between material and function.

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 close readings of everyday specifications from the 18th to 21st centuries, the book reveals that 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 the development of specific relationships between material and function.

arq publishes cutting-edge work covering all aspects of architectural endeavour. Contents include building design, urbanism, history, theory, environmental design, construction, materials, information technology, and practice. Other features include interviews, occasional reports, lively letters pages, book reviews and an end feature, Insight. Reviews of significant buildings are published at length and in a detail matched today by few other architectural journals. Elegantly designed, inspirational and often provocative, arq is essential reading for practitioners in industry and consultancy as well as for academic researchers.

arq publishes cutting-edge work covering all aspects of architectural endeavour. Contents include building design, urbanism, history, theory, environmental design, construction, materials, information technology, and practice. Other features include interviews, occasional reports, lively letters pages, book reviews and an end feature, Insight. Reviews of significant buildings are published at length and in a detail matched today by few other architectural journals. Elegantly designed, inspirational and often provocative, arq is essential reading for practitioners in industry and consultancy as well as for academic researchers.Interested in subscribing to arq? Institutional subscriptions are available via LUP's Journals department. To find out more or to recommend arq to your institutional librarian, please visit: https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journal/arq

arq publishes cutting-edge work covering all aspects of architectural endeavour. Contents include building design, urbanism, history, theory, environmental design, construction, materials, information technology, and practice. Other features include interviews, occasional reports, lively letters pages, book reviews and an end feature, Insight. Reviews of significant buildings are published at length and in a detail matched today by few other architectural journals. Elegantly designed, inspirational and often provocative, arq is essential reading for practitioners in industry and consultancy as well as for academic researchers.