Architectural Detailing: Function Constructability Aesthetics

The industry-standard guide to designing well-performing buildings

Aesthetics are a vital part of good design. Great design emerges from a deep understanding of the functionality and constructability of details. Good details provide clear, complete, and correct information to the wide variety of users that need them. Architects guide a project from design idea to buildable reality by working with other building industry professionals and creating a set of details that show how things are put together.

Architectural Detailing systematically describes the principles for designing good architectural details. Using patterns that demonstrate best practices and consistent approaches to design detailing, this book teaches why detailing is important, what factors shape detailing issues, and how to detail a building that meets or exceeds performance requirements. Extensive illustrations demonstrate how to design building details that will not leak water or air, will control the flow of heat and water vapor, will adjust to all kinds of movement, and will be easy to construct.

This fourth edition has been updated to conform to the latest International Building Codes and International Energy Conservation Code requirements and incorporates current knowledge about new material and construction technology, including:

• Expanded patterns for sustainability, high performance architecture, and resilience
• Examples using panelized or modularized prefabricated building assemblies
• Complex case studies demonstrating the detailing design process for energy efficient structures
• Design detailing for maintenance and management of sensitive or weak spots in a building assembly

Architectural Detailing helps you bring a building together with a well detailed design that communicates effectively at all levels of the construction process.

PATRICK RAND, FAIA, is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Architecture in the College of Design at North Carolina State University. Rand has also authored or co-authored Materials for Design and Detailing for Landscape Architects, and his books have been translated into French, Chinese, and Korean. He has been named by Design Intelligence as a recipient of the Thirty Most Admired Design Educators. He was named a Distinguished Professor by ACSA in 2014. In 2019 he was a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, teaching and carrying out research for six months at Aalto University in Otaniemi and Helsinki, Finland. He was honored as the 2019 recipient of the NCSU Board of Governor’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

JASON MILLER, AIA, is a professor of Building Sciences at Appalachian State University. A practicing architect, Miller emphasizes an integrated, collaborative design approach to achieve design excellence in professional and academic settings. His research interests include design pedagogy, sustainable design-build practices, and the role of architecture as an agent of community change. For his work in professionally based design education, Miller received the 2014 Appalachian State University Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2019 UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award.

EDWARD ALLEN, FAIA, (1938-2020) was a member of the faculties at both Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and frequently taught as a guest at institutions across the United States for over 30 years. He also authored The Architect’s Studio Companion; Shaping Structures: Statics; and Fundamentals of Building Construction. Among his many honors, Allen was selected as a Topaz Laureate by ACSA in 2005.