Edward Ford's forty years of practicing and teaching architecture have focused on one the architectural detail. Yet, despite two hugely influential books ( The Details of Modern Architecture , volumes 1 and 2), numerous articles, and lectures given from Vancouver to Vienna, there are two questions Ford has, remarkably, never "What is a detail?" and more importantly, "What is a good detail?" Ford is an architect as well as a writer, so it is notsurprising that rather than answering these questions in a third book, he spent six years on the design and construction of a house. Building it was not an exercise in the application of ideas about detail; it was, rather, a mechanism for answering those two simple questions.
Five Houses, Ten Details presents five designsall by Ford, all for himself, all for the same siteonly one of which was built. Each unbuilt design evolved or was abandoned for a variety of reasons.Many simply cost too much; others were based on presumptions that proved inaccurate or unproductive. All, to some degree, are present in the final design. Each of the five designs explores a different aspect of architectural how it acts to connect to or disconnect from a site; how it is expressive of material; how it acts to reveal structure; how itarticulates the act of construction; and how it can be inconsistent, in a beneficial way, with the remainder of the building. Detail for Ford is not an accessory to architecture but its essence. Each design in Five Houses, Ten Details explores and articulates one aspectsite, structure, material, joinery, or furnitureat the expense of the others. Each architectural exploration leads to a larger understanding of construction and a larger understanding of how details communicate. Woven throughout with historical references and specific examples of his design process, Five Houses, Ten Details is an accessible and at times personal account of one man's exploration of architectural detail.

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5 houses, 10 details

Ford, Edward R.

Princeton Architectural Press : Made available through hoopla

Writing Matters, 1st ed, New York, 2009

United States, United States of America

United States, 2012

New York, NY, 2013

1, 2009, US, 2009

1, 2012

{"edition":"1","isbns":["1568988265","1568989636","9781568988269","9781568989631"],"last_page":256,"publisher":"Princeton Architectural Press"}

Includes bibliographical references.

Five Houses, Ten Details presents five designs--all by Ford, all for himself, all for the same site--only one of which was built. Each unbuilt design evolved or was abandoned for a variety of reasons. Many simply cost too much; others were based on presumptions that proved inaccurate or unproductive. All, to some degree, are present in the final design. Each of the five designs explores a different aspect of architectural detail: how it acts to connect to or disconnect from a site; how it is expressive of material; how it acts to reveal structure; how it articulates the act of construction; and how it can be inconsistent, in a beneficial way, with the remainder of the building. Detail for Ford is not an accessory to architecture but its essence. Each design in Five Houses, Ten Details explores and articulates one aspect--site, structure, material, joinery, or furniture--at the expense of the others. Each architectural exploration leads to a larger understanding of construction and a larger understanding of how details communicate. Woven throughout with historical references and specific examples of his design process, Five Houses, Ten Details is an accessible and at times personal account of one man's exploration of architectural detail

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction. Five houses
Pt. 1. Ch. 1. The detail as abstraction : place and displacement
Ch. 2. House 1
Ch. 3. Abstraction and animation
Pt. 2. Ch. 4. The detail as material expression : material and form
Ch. 5. House 2
Ch. 6. The Free Union School competition
Ch. 7. Sculpture, engineering, and architecture
Pt. 3. Ch. 8. The detail as structural representation : structure and weight
Ch. 9. House 3
Ch. 10. Gravity and meaning
Pt. 4. Ch. 11. The detail as joint : abstraction and joints
Ch. 12. House 4
Ch. 13. The Alpine Mountain Hut competition
Ch. 14. The part and the whole
Pt. 5. Ch. 15. The detail as dissonant element : architecture and furniture
- Ch. 16. House 5
Ch. 17. The Matteson Public Library
h. 18. Scale and dissonance
Afterword. The detail
Notes
Selected bibliography
Credits.

Edward Ford's forty years of practicing and teaching architecture have focused on one area: the architectural detail. Yet, despite two hugely influential books (<em>The Details of Modern Architecture</em>, volumes 1 and 2), numerous articles, and lectures given from Vancouver to Vienna, there are two questions Ford has, remarkably, never answered: "What is a detail?" and more importantly, "What is a good detail?" Ford is an architect as well as a writer, so it is not surprising that rather than answering these questions in a third book, he spent six years on the design and construction of a house. Building it was not an exercise in the application of ideas about detail; it was, rather, a mechanism for answering those two simple questions.

The author explores the history of five designs from among many that he generated for a small urban lot he purchased near the center of Charlottesville, Virginia

2023-08-13