Five Houses, Ten Details

by Ford, Edward R.

• ISBN13: 9781568988269
• ISBN10: 1568988265
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-01
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Pr

Summary

Five Houses, Ten Details is an accessible, personal account of one man's exploration of architectural detail. Edward R. Ford-architect, educator, and author of the classic Details of Modern Architecture books-delves into the question "What is a good detail?" Drawings and renderings illustrate five houses he designed for the same site, only one of which was built. Each design investigates a different aspect of architectural detail: how it connects to or disconnects from a site; how it expresses material; how it reveals structure; how it articulates the construction; and how it can be beneficially inconsistent with the remainder of the building. The unbuilt designs evolved or were abandoned for a variety of reasons. A few simply cost too much; others were based on presumptions that proved inaccurate or unproductive. All, to some degree, are present in the final design. With historical references and specific examples of his design process, Ford demonstrates that detail is not an accessory to architecture, but its essence. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 6
Acknowledgments	p. 8
Introduction: Five Houses	p. 10
The Detail as Abstraction: Place and Displacement	p. 30
House 1	p. 42
Abstraction and Animation	p. 58
The Detail as Material Expression: Material and Form	p. 64
House 2	p. 76
The Free Union Country School Competition	p. 90
Sculpture, Engineering, and Architecture	p. 102
The Detail as Structural Representation: Structure and Weight	p. 110
House 3	p. 118
Gravity and Meaning	p. 138
The Detail as Joint: Abstraction and Joints	p. 144
House 4	p. 152
The Alpine Mountain Hut Competition	p. 170
The Part and the Whole	p. 182
The Detail as Dissonant Element: Architecture and Furniture	p. 186
House 5	p. 200
The Matteson Public Library Competition	p. 218
Scale and Dissonance	p. 230
Epilogue: The Detail	p. 232
Notes	p. 242
Selected Bibliography	p. 248
Credits	p. 250
Index	p. 251
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