Translucent Building Skins: Material Innovations in Modern and Contemporary Architecture

by Scott Murray

Routledge, 2013.

Hardcover and paperback, 8.5” x 11”, 200 pages, 180 illus.

Exploring the design of innovative building enclosure systems in contemporary architecture and their precedents in earlier twentieth-century modern architecture, this book by Scott Murray examines the tectonics, the history, and the influence of translucency as a defining characteristic in architecture. Each chapter presents a comparative analysis of two primary buildings: a recent project paired with a historical precedent, highlighting how architects in different eras have realized the distinctive effects of translucent glazing in building facades. Research for this book was supported by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Alan and Leonarda Laing Foundation, and the Campus Research Board at the University of Illinois.