This course looks at the relation between some of the common materials of building construction as they exits in different cultural regimes and ecologies-in particular, timber, steel, concrete and plastic. The course will then introduce a number of perspectives on these materials that show them to be constantly in the process of being given different meanings, values and applications by both different national and trans-national cultures. The course will also examine topics such as: connections between design and materials, how the material world is viewed, making, cultural change, the past and the future. The last part of this course explores cultures of use and value. Although not employing a materials science approach, some technical detail will be presented.
NOtes: Subject to approval