Situate, Manipulate, Fabricate An Anthology of the Influences on Architectural Design and Production

Part 1: Situate

1. Site

Groundwork

Robin Dripps

The Foundation of Architecture

Rafael Moneo

2. Tradition

Between Traditionalism and Modernism: Approaches to a Vernacular Architecture

Dennis Alan Mann

Newness, Tradition, and Identity: Existential Content and Meaning in Architecture

Juhani Pallasmaa

3. Environment

What Does Place Mean to Me? Everything

Dijana Alic interviews Glenn Murcutt

Preface from "Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture"

Hassan Fathy

4. Intent

Truth to the Medium: Using Materials

Fil Hearn

Monumentality

Louis I. Kahn

5. Properties

Timber from "The Soul of a Tree"

George Nakashima

Structuring Materiality: Design Fabrication of Heterogeneous Materials

Neri Oxman

6. Meaning

On Weathering: A New Surface out of the Tracks of Time

David Leatherbarrow and Mohsen Mostafavi

Material is Not a Finish

Kengo Kuma　

7. Techne

Excerpts from "The Nature and Art of Workmanship"

David Pye

Excerpts from "Refabricating Architecture"

Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake

8. Architectonic

Structure, Construction, Tectonics

Eduard Sekler

Rappel a l’Ordre: The Case for the Tectonic

Kenneth Frampton

9. Intersection

The Tell-the-Tale Detail

Marco Frascari

Detail: The Subject of the Object

Peggy Deamer

Biography

Chad Schwartz is an architect and educator currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at Kansas State University, USA. He teaches both design and building technology, continually seeking to merge the two bodies of knowledge. His research explores the role of architectural tectonics in the development of both contemporary and historic architecture, as well as strategies for translating the theory of tectonics into practical and poetic activities in the university classroom. He is also the author of Introducing Architectural Tectonics: Exploring the Intersection of Design and Construction (2016).

Situating contemporary discussions of material and fabrication against their historical and theoretical backgrounds, Schwartz’s Situate, Manipulate, Fabricate　presents an accessible resource for considering and comparing theories of tectonics. The annotated essays convey how material is a form of intentionality: detailing and material decisions are intellectual transactions that carry political and social consequences and reflect the cultures, places, and times of their creation.　　Situate　will be essential reading for those interested in considering and refining how material manipulation and fabrication are powerful instruments of architectural thought.

-Shelby Elizabeth Doyle, AIA, Iowa State University

Chad Schwartz has assembled an outstanding collection of essays in this book. The author’s use of the phrase "tectonic instigators" is particularly insightful, as the processes described in the title are crucial elements in creating compelling architecture. The book’s richly varied contributions include work by authors that carefully situate discourse within their particular cultural contexts. Chad’s introductions for each chapter provide critical context, as well as facilitating reader’s engagement in unfamiliar ideas. Any architect or educator who has an interest in how one approaches the subject of making architecture will find these selections to be essential to enriching their understanding.

-Eric Weber, Associate Professor, Coordinator, UNLV School of Architecture Design+Build Studio

This vital collection of writings on architectural tectonics extends Chad Schwartz’ groundbreaking work in Introducing Architectural Tectonics to argue for building as a philosophical, as well as a physical, act. Showing that construction occurs within three frameworks—situating a building within the topography and flows of a site, manipulating materials to bend the physical world to our needs and desires, and fabricating elements and components to engage with those materials, these curated essays show how constructive acts—far from being mere nuts and bolts—embody meaning far richer than we generally acknowledge. An essential addition to any architectural library, Situate, Manipulate, Fabricate brings together a generation of collected wisdom and speculation on the intersection of making and thinking.

-Thomas Leslie, FAIA, Morrill Professor in Architecture, College of Design, Iowa State University