For architects, architecture students and ardent fans of architecture comes this book on materials for designing structures. We've previously written about a book for materials for object and interior design called Material Connexion, and though for Design is unequivocally for architecture, they are similar in that they both feature some of the most avant garde design today. It comes with the territory, some of the materials are relatively new and the architects chosen are pushing the boundaries of what can be done with materials. For example, The Laminata Glass House is made almost entirely of 2,000 soda-lime glass sheets and "redefines the use of glass as a building material" as well as "changing preconceived notions of how to use glass in buildings". Glass houses aren't new, but gluing stacks of 10 glass sheets together and using the resulting light refraction to "carve out living spaces" in the home, is. Just one of many examples of innovative applications of the materials presented in the book. Organized into sections devoted to glass, concrete, wood, metals and plastics, each individual example (there are 60 in all) gets a detailed description of the design intention, materiality, technical plus plan drawings. All in english that can not only be understood by the non-architect, but captivated by as well. Some of the architects included; Rural Studio, Werner Sobek, Fougeron Architecture, Brian MacKay-Lyons and Engelen Moore. Hardcover, 272 pages, 275 color/ 250 B&W images, $31.50 at Amazon.

+ Materials for Design at Amazon