Traditional Construction Patterns

* Graphical approach allows users to quickly visualize design solutions

* Lists the rules-of-thumb for each detail, and correct and incorrect examples of how to design or construct each detail
"Design & detail rules of thumb"--Cover.
Stephen A. Mouzon and Susan M. Henderson are architects and town planners, and are principals of PlaceMakers, which is headquartered in Miami, Florida. Steve is a founder of the New Urban Guild. He has authored or contributed to a number of publications in recent years, including the Public Works Manual, Charles Barrett: The Architectural Drawings, Biltmore Estate Homes, and 1001 Traditional Construction Details. He continues to shoot the photographic Catalog of the Most-Loved Places, which currently includes over 25,000 digital images in 52 volumes. The PlaceMakers Pattern Books are currently the only Transect-based pattern books in existence and are meant to be companion pieces to this book.
"Putting the ideas of Modernism into the hands of average architects" and builders has resulted in "architecture done wrong for the past half-century." Architects Mouzon and Henderson explain their "sense of unease" and illustrate a range of do's and don'ts that "give people the tools for getting it right again." In 14 chapters they discuss architectural details ranging from the classical orders to roofs, site work, and signage. Powerful opening chapters set the stage by succinctly discussing architectural history, theory, themes and patterns. The Roman architect Vitruvius is cited, and his themes of commodity, firmness, and delight are expanded for application in reviving the lost language of architecture. The remaining eight chapters are clearly laid out with brief essays on architectural features; these are interspersed with excellent black-and-white photographs. All elements are examined using a technique incorporated into architecture: the transect, an organizing device for developing proper patterns. An illustrated lexicon is also included to educate laypersons in the language, but it is too detailed and selective to be as effective as desired. This is a great companion to Jonathan Hale's "The Old Way of Seeing" (1994) and the National Park Service's "The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation" (rev., 1990). Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers: upper-division undergraduates through professionals; two-year technical program students. -- "L.B. Sickels-Taves, Eastern Michigan University"