ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how various architectural thinkers, beginning in the 19th century, began to think of architectural details and how materials were chosen and combined—not as a singular creative act but, rather, as an approach to organizing architectural workers around certain procedures. It argues that today’s system of Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD-CAM) does not presage the demise of detail-thinking or the loss of material appreciation. Rather, in coordinating all of the actors involved in producing quality architectural design—the fabricator, in particular—the “subject” of detail production is broadened for the better.
