Customer Reviews

Materials, Form, and Architecture

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This is a great book that bridges the gap between the formal and aesthetic aspects of architecture and its `materiality', which is often neglected in the historical and theoretical analyses of architectural projects. In this wide ranging and fascinating essay that moves across different cultures and historical periods, Richard Weston weaves a compelling and fascinating story that makes connections and comparisons between the various ways builders and architects have used different materials, subject of course to different climatic and regional factors.
This intimate understanding of materiality may be missing in today's practice, and may in part be responsible for the superficiality of much of contemporary architectural production, despite Weston's introductory remark that in many contemporary projects, a `fascination with materials and the surfaces of buildings has displaced modern architects' familiar preoccupation with space and structure'.
The book is rich in detailed descriptions of specific projects, as for instance in discussing Carlo Scarpa's Querini Stampalia:
"In the main hall, which doubles as a small gallery, the floor is compartmented by lines of smooth concrete and then filled with variable-width rectangles of concrete, whose surface has been washed to reveal an aggregate of fine pebbles. Both materials turn up at right angles to form the lower section of the flanking walls, where they are edged with a strip of Istrian stone. Above, protected from all but the worst floods, the walls are clad with the slabs of travertine, cut across the grain to give a richly textured surface."
This book may not offer a busy `practitioner', as the previous reviewer, a hands-on index on materials and their properties, which it did not set out to do, but it offers a wealth of information, in addition to a theoretical understanding of the importance of materials in architecture.
In brief, this is a great and timely book for any student of architecture, but also for any practitioner seeking to go beyond the `surface' and to get a historical-theoretical background on the use, and significance, of different materials in architecture.

Weston has done a wonderful job in identifying and delineating why we experience what we do when we look at significant architecture. He does this by first reviewing the historical basics of "Materials for Building", "Materials and Form" and "Nature of Materials" then continuing to describe seven aspects ("Place, Time, Use, Junctions, Surfaces, Meaning and Materiality and Translucency") of how the choice and form of materials used in construction affect our impression on architecture. The book contains many delightful quotes and stories directly tied to these topics which add important depth and context. This book is not a how-to guide, rather an overview of the sensual aspects of architecture that are often missing in academic texts. Understanding these architecture aspects can give us insights into why different buildings, from different times, places and materials, have the profound effect they do upon us.

Vey disappointed in this book--as a design professional I need to be up to speed on new materials and be stimulated to try and use them in new and interesting ways in addition to having them be functional for my clients. There was nothing here that I found stimulating and materials were all ones that I was familiar with. May be more interesting for a homeowner looking to remodel and be able to discuss options with their architect or designer.