Summary

Curious about how Alsop Architects managed to construct that flying, translucent rectangle at the Ontario College of Art and Design? Wonder about the sustainability of the Genzyme Building? The saying "the truth is in the details" reveals an essential quality of architectural design. How a staircase curves, a roof seemingly floats, or a concrete wall illuminates are critical questions for architects looking at or creating new work. You might forgive designers for closely guarding theirsignature techniques. Fortunately, editors Christine Killory and Ren Davids culled an amazing collection of the best trade secrets in Details in Contemporary Architecture .

By looking at the best work of the past two years, the book demonstrates how complicated design problems have been handled by architects to achieve beautiful, functional, innovative, sustainable, and, where necessary, economical results. Including work by David Chipperfield, Herzog and de Meuron, Morphosis, ShoP, and many other well-known firms, Details in Contemporary Architecture extensively explores the common as well as more exotic architectural detailing (screens and walls, doors and windows, roofs, bridges, and stairs) that so often gets lost in the pages and photographs of the design media.

Details in Contemporary Architecture is the first volume of a new series entitled AsBuilt. AsBuilt features details from a representative range of building types and materials of recent built work in America. The series seeks to ground both practice and theory more deeply while fostering a better understanding of the relationships between architectural form and technology.

Choice Review

Details in Contemporary Architecture is the first in the "AsBuilt" series, written in hopes that it "will stimulate more architects to document their designs ... for publication." Killory (architect, Davids Killory) and Davids (architect, Davids Killory, Univ. of California) provide a visual companion to some of the most difficult and somewhat enigmatic construction commitments on contemporary building. Form and function have grown up, manipulating renegade shapes and material that transcend conventional space. Some 25 projects from the US and Canada were chosen, based on difficulty and innovative results using "unfamiliar technology and materials." Computer tools such as BIM (Building Information Modeling) design 3-D models, cementing a unique cooperation between architects, contractors, and technology. These digital components invite freedom of design, combining the elements of theory, practice, and society. New architects, conscious of green environments, achieve function using common and artificial texture, forms, height, color, luminescence, and transparency. In a given space, airflow, energy, natural and artificial light, and heating and cooling systems commit to the environment within its limits. Detailed projects supply cross, longitudinal, tabletop section, floor, and framing plans, models, interior and exterior, and street-level views. The 190 sumptuous color photographs and capacious illustrations help one to understand each unique project. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. J. E. Gaydos University of Pittsburgh at Titusville

Library Journal Review

Award-winning San Francisco architects Killory and Davids (Davids Killory Architecture) kick off their series of monographs on contemporary building in the United States and Canada with this handsome portfolio of 25 noteworthy structures built in the last two years. Aptly titling the series "As Built," they intend to avoid the "swamps" of postmodern theory and the fantasyland of virtual architecture by examining the real-world intersection wherein advanced design meets emerging technologies. The projects they select, e.g., the Seattle Public Library and Chicago's Millennium Park, will be familiar to those who follow the architectural press. The difference here, however, is the focus on technique. Alongside glossy photos and floor plans are finely detailed technical diagrams illustrating the construction methods and building systems largely constituting the subject matter of the text. The series is addressed to practicing North American architects, whom the authors entreat to take a more collaborative, hands-on approach in turning their concepts into reality. As such, its audience will be limited to professionals and to committed advocates of cutting-edge architecture. Highly recommended to libraries serving those clienteles.-David Soltesz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.