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Fundamentals of Building Construction
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Short Description: Fundamentals of. Building. Construction. Materials and Methods by Edward Allen; illustrated by Joseph Iano. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1999, ...
Content Inside: This article appeared in Harvard Design Magazine, Winter/Spring 2000, Number 10. To order this issue or a subscription,. © 2001 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and The MIT Press. Not to be reproduced without the permission of the publisher Reviewed by Daniel Willis head-to-head competition with Frank Fundamentals of Ching’s mostly graphic Building Con- struction Illustrated. Building A third reason for the book’s popular- ity—its ability to span the worlds of ar- Construction chitecture, engineering, and property development—is that it is at once effec- Materials and Methods tive and inoffensive. Allen presents the by Edward Allen; illustrated by Joseph Iano material in straightforward fashion, us- New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1999, ing clear illustrations and well-conceived Third Edition tables, with a minimum of sermonizing. But the author pays a price for this mat- Book S I N C E T H E F I R S T E D I T I O N of Ed- ter-of-factness: if my second-year under- ward Allen’s Fundamentals of Building graduate architecture majors are any Construction was published in 1985, the indication, students find the book intol- book has become as ubiquitous as trac- erably dull. I am forced to employ a mix ing paper in schools of architecture. of threats, coercion, and surprise quizzes Now in its third edition, Allen’s book is to make them actually read it. This is not the standard text in building construc- unusual in a textbook, and I have some tion courses, not only in architecture but explanations for this particular case; but Revie also in ws engineering, construction, and first I want to evaluate the new edition real estate courses. Its publisher’s website on its own terms. claims that over 10,000 students use the The third edition has six more chap- text every year. The most obvious reason ters than its predecessor. Some are truly for this popularity—and I personally sell new, others the result of reorganizing about seventy copies of Allen’s book each material from the earlier versions. Wi- year, by requiring my students to buy ley’s promotional blurb extols the use of it—is that it is clear, thorough, and rea- CAD drawings for the first time, along sonably complete. I suspect that its with the dubious claim that they are in- clever niche marketing plays an equally cluded for their “greater precision.” In important role. For example, one might the case of the newly CAD-drafted be tempted to claim that the dearth of structural steel connections, the illustra- information on mechanical and electrical tions in this new edition are indeed an construction, or on conveying and com- improvement. More photographs of munication systems in buildings, is an buildings by famous architects are in- oversight in an apparently comprehen- cluded here, presumably to introduce a sive book. But upon closer consideration measure of design awareness. Given that one realizes that Fundamentals of Building the book this volume (in all its editions) Construction dovetails neatly with anoth- has replaced in many curriculums, Caleb er Wiley offering, the equally popular Hornbostel’s Materials and Methods of Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Contemporary Construction, is out of print, Buildings, by Benjamin Stein, now enter- and that other offerings, such as Harold ing its ninth edition. And, in a similar Bennet Olin’s
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