Craft Theory and Contemporary Architecture

Grant Alford

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
28 May 2025

Theory of art; Theory of architecture

This book offers a comprehensive exploration of craft theory in relation to contemporary architecture. Craft is an old and familiar idea, but the line between craft and art or craft and mere manufacturing, for example, is notoriously hard to describe. In architecture, a similarly blurred line between the design process, on the one hand, and the physical making of buildings, on the other, lies at the center of various debates about what it means to do architecture. The growth and development of craft theory in recent years suggest new insights into these architectural debates, but situating the meaning of craft within architecture within today’s technological landscape is a complex problem. Alford responds to this challenge by collecting various narratives from craft theory and other fields and discerning among them new lenses through which to view contemporary architectural practice. Episodes from this expanded view of craft in architecture go beyond predictable accounts of Ruskin and Morris to envision: new models of practice, new ways of engaging other building professionals, and new ways for architects to understand their own labor and the nature of how and what kinds of things they themselves craft. Architecture is changing and within the ongoing story of craft explored in this book are new and surprising ways to understand, design, and construct the built environment. Written for students and scholars, this book challenges and extends the legacy of craft thinking in architecture.

By: Grant Alford
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781032529783
ISBN 10: 1032529784
Pages: 158
Publication Date: 28 May 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Grant Alford is an architect and an associate professor of architecture at Kansas State University where he teaches design studios at all levels, as well as graduate seminars on new media, drawing, digital technology, and craft. He has worked in award-winning architecture firms in New York, New Jersey, and Texas. Alford is a graduate of Texas Tech University and Princeton University. Originally from West Texas, he lives in Manhattan, Kansas, with his wife and six children.