ABSTRACT
This book comes as an integral part of a sequence, as explained in the
preceding ‘Introduction to the Series’, and as such it has a defined area
to cover. This area, encompassing the selection of materials, detailing
and specification, forms the heart of the text and in so doing it also
provides the primary elements of the process known as technical design
in architecture. In many ways, this work could stand alone as a descrip-
tion of that process, but as with the many aspects of construction gen-
erally, it would be much poorer for doing so. The primary aim is
therefore to explore the technical design process generally but with a
specific regard to the fundamental aspects of the process as manifested
by the discrete although highly interdependent areas of the selection of
materials, detailing and specification.
