Comprehensive Tectonics

Technical Building Assemblies from the Ground to the Sky

Alexis Gregory

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781317407508
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Comprehensive Tectonics considers building construction assemblies holistically to help you make architectural detailing decisions from the earth to the sky. Seven case studies from architecture firms such as Perkins + Will, Lake | Flato, and Olson Kundig Architects include more than 250 color images showing component details, building sections, wall sections, and floor plans. For each project, the architects explain their design intent and the reasons for their material and tectonic choices, to help you form your own strategies.

This book will provide you with assistance by its ease of use with legible keys, scales, and reference images. Its key insights about why the firm chose certain materials will allow you to create your own process for utilizing building construction assemblies. Comprehensive Tectonics aims to give you a more comprehensive overview of building construction assembles to aid in the creation of well-designed and well-developed architecture.

Including a glossary and guide for how to determine assembly, this book makes a welcome desk reference and is an ideal addition for students in architecture integrated studios dealing with structures and materials and is also a useful addition for professional architects.

Case Studies

1: Waveland Business Incubator

Waveland, MS, unabridged Architecture

Architect’s Design Intent and Reasoning Behind Material and Tectonic Choices

The project is based on a “dogtrot” between enclosed spaces, a folk tradition in Mississippi architecture. Updating the vernacular in this project represented a pioneering effort based on sustainability to restore commercial uses within the flood-prone coastal zone where downtown Waveland, MS, lost every business and structure in Hurricane Katrina.

The Waveland Business Incubator was conceived in the Mississippi Renewal Forum as a catalyst for rebuilding the historic Main Street, with the challenge of placing commercial uses 6′ 0″ above the street. Porches and ramps make gradual level changes to reduce visual and physical barriers, and the traditional urban marketplace typology promotes multiple civic functions. The steel frame, color, and contemporary detailing sites this building form unequivocally in the present, but the presence of the past is evident in accommodating the rigors of the climate, its relationship to the street, and its deeply southern inspiration. Circulation is placed outside in response to tradition, but also to capture breezes and creates an active front porch to the street. Circulation was also placed outside the building envelope to eliminate the need to heat and cool circulation areas, and encourage people to spend time outside.

The initial concept for raised commercial space from the Mississippi Renewal Forum illustrated open retail at the grade level, with enclosed commercial space above to service the restaurants, kiosks, and markets located on the first level below. The completed design refined the initial program, but raised commercial functions out of the flood hazard zone for greater durability in the next storm and meet regulatory requirements. The structure now serves as the home to Studio Waveland, an artists’ studio and gallery. It has transformed the downtown area, and the modern art reinforces the architecture in a perfect synergy.

This building contributes to a walkable, connected community, with ties to many neighborhood services, including a library, civic center, city hall, fire house, municipal fishing pier, churches, offices, and restaurants. Waveland had over 250 homes within half a mile walking distance before the storm, therefore this structure is oriented to the historic main street to promote a continuous urban environment to help replace some of what was lost. Large windows provide a connection between occupants and the street. The transition to a higher elevation is made in small increments to make the steps easier to navigate, and the stairs themselves be...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title
• Praise
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword by Edward Ford
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Case Studies
• Guide: How to Determine Assembly
• Afterword
• Image and Drawing Credits
• Glossary of Terms and Materials
• Index