Skins, Envelopes, and Enclosures

With more than seventy significant case studies located in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia from prehistory to the present, this book illuminates the theory and techniques of assembling exteriors. Six chapters organized by wall types, from hand-set monolithic walls to digitally fabricated curtain walls, each have a material focus section to help you understand their intrinsic properties so that you can decide which will best keep the weather out of your building. Examples from the ancient world, from the Pyramids and the Great Wall, through a range of renowned precedents in modern architecture, illustrate how significant works in the history of architecture explored innovative use of materials – stone, brick, concrete, glass, and aluminum. Along the way, principles of construction from masonry and basic framing through ever more sophisticated envelope systems address classic problems presented by gravity, wind, rain, and sun with studies of lateral forces, building movements and materials that bridge the gaps in between them. This new edition has been revised to include: 4 new vignettes introducing critical issues of embodied carbon and sustainability considerations for key building materials and over 100 updated illustrations including photographs and drawings.