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Materiology:
The Creative Industry's Guide to Materials and Technologies
by Daniel Kula and Élodie Ternaux
Frame
Publishers/Birkhäuser, 2009
Hardcover, 344 pages
For designers, materials are an integral
part of an end-product's success, be it a building, piece
of furniture, clothing or some other artifact. This is obvious
and needs no further explication, but the information pertaining
to the broad range of matter used in the design trades is
overwhelming, at best. A number of resources collect materials
and products to help designers choose a palette or specify
ready-mades for various applications, but these guides tend
to be very particular, to stake out a specific place in
the greater scheme of things. This new reference tackles
various materials all the way from their sources to their
outcomes, documenting the processes that shape designs via
their fabrication, thereby aiding the designer in making
better choices and hopefully better designs.
Three main chapters document the
three primary aspects of materials: material families, a
catalog of over 100 materials, and techniques for processing
materials. The first feeds the second, which is then worked
by one or more of the processes of the third. Combination
and assemblage is beyond the scope of the book, at the mercy
of the designer's imagination. Here the focus is purely
on working with materials; concrete, stone, textiles, plastics,
wood, glass, metals, etc. Just about all of the material
families (minus leather) find use in architectural projects,
though many of the materials cataloged are clearly outside
the scope of buildings. Granted that this book is aimed
at designers in the broadest sense, the value of the book
for architects is still high, particularly for students
and younger professionals. The descriptions are clear, if
dry, with excellent illustrations of everything from stone
quarrying to bending pipe. It is the latter that makes the
book most appealing, as it makes the content more memorable
and easier to find while flipping through the book, though
excellent cross-referencing is also included. Furthermore,
tables, charts and pros/cons for the different materials
and processes help designers make decisions at the exciting
yet crucial steps when ideas start to take physical shape.
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