ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the making of building enclosures: the structured pattern of solids and voids through which people control the passage of light, heat, water and air. It offers a portrait of terra cotta, exploring the breadth of possibility it offers in response to these questions. The book identifies key attributes of terra cotta as a material, a product and a system of enclosure. It provides a brief survey of historical precedents, and explores the many ways that terra cotta has been formed, finished and applied to buildings over time. The book explains fundamental materials from their sources, through all of the processes that shape them, to establish a basis for design. It demonstrates that terra cotta is such a material because it has capacities that inspire designers to make fresh, new uses of it, each in their own time.
