Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
These days, whether you're designing a building or a toaster, a savvy knowledge of materials is increasingly critical. And keeping up with the constant flow of new materials, let alone their applications, properties, and sources, is an increasingly difficult and time-consuming task. Blaine Erickson Brownell, author of Transmaterial, known to thousands of web users for his "product of the week" email service alerting designers to new materials that are reshaping our world, has created this handy and affordable reference to the most interesting and most useful new materials now available. Transmaterial is indexed in multiple ways for the sake of maximum convenience, and utilizes the new CSI Master-Format 2004 product categorization system. With more than 200 materials, organized by category, described, pictured, and annotated with technical and sourcing information, this catalog is an essential tool for any architect or designer interested in keeping up with the rapid developments in the field of materials, looking for a source of inspiration for their designs, or just eager to get their hands on real materials in an effort to understand the incredibly innovative palette now available to us.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Materials source catalog
Customer Rating:
Transmaterial is a succinct review of new materials. The graphic layout makes finding new materials very easy. It is the only source book I would pick up and just flip through because it is full of quality photographs and readable summaries of the material. Transmaterial simplifies the process of material research.
Great Resource!
Customer Rating:
This book is a thorough and interesting compilation of green materials for a wide variety of uses. I highly recommend!
Great Matherial Pathfinder
Customer Rating:
I bought this book long time ago and it proved to be a great choice. Whenever I need an unusual and/or sustainable material I go back to this book!
Brilliant materials, bit shallow coverage
Customer Rating:
Wish that there was more information on some of these pages. You see an interesting material and you get an address. And little else. Perhaps some inkling of the cost would be useful. Or add another little picture? Not sure what the best use of the space is, but blank areas are probably not it.
Still, the materials in here are a revelation. Perfect for any architect and for many artists.
A fun, interesting survey of cutting edge materials
Customer Rating:
The subtitle of this book is "A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment" and a catalog it is, albeit a very interesting one. The book is divided into 10 sections: Concrete, Mineral, Metal, Wood, Plastic-Rubber, Glass, Paint/Paper, Fabric, Light, and Digital, and each product's entry contains a brief description that reads like a press release. There is some basic information such as applications, sizes, etc., and contact information which includes websites.
The introduction describes seven "trends" which may apply to a given product. Some of the trends are self-explanatory (i.e. "ultraperforming" and "repurposed"), while others are less familiar (i.e. "transformational", and "interfacial").
I enjoyed the photos and the fact that every time I pick up the book, I learn something new. I do wish, though, that the photos were much bigger; there is but a single band, approximately 2" x 6" , reserved for the products' photos. A few manufacturers split the space in two; most squeeze in 3 or even 4 pictures, which is impossibly small and left me yearing for a larger format for the pix.
Overall, I found this to be a worthy reference, providing a terrific review of up-to-the-minute materials and technology.
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