ABSTRACT
This chapter presents two texts that address the timeline of industrial transformation and its impacts on architecture. Fil Hearn, in "Truth to the Medium: Using Materials", outlines a chronology of material philosophies from a number of architects and scholars who wrote and practiced from the mid-1800s through the 1970s. Louis Kahn also inhabits this timeline. His essay “Monumentality”, one of his first philosophical writings, was published during another period of great mechanical innovation: World War II. While Kahn does not specifically reference material honesty in “Monumentality” his work certainly speaks for itself. In the opening paragraph of “Truth to the Medium,” Hearn states that material intent in architecture honor(s) the physical properties of each substance. Kahn demonstrates equal concern for honoring materials in his work. Material intent is rooted in technology, tectonics, sustainability, aesthetics, and experience; it encompasses the future of our built environment.
