As architecture programs throughout the country break out of the classroom and adopt the holistic methods of design/build programs, the need for a textbook that bridges the gap between construction materials and design sensibility is sorely needed. <i>Materials for Design</i> is that book. <p>Students must be taught how a choice of material affects the form and look of a structure; they must also learn how inspired design can inject any material with true personality and zeal. Broken into five sectionsglass, wood, metals, plastics, and concrete<i>Materials for Design</i> makes a thorough study of each material's properties, followed by a series of 1012 case studies of that material put to imaginative use by today's brightest architects from around the world. <p>There is no other textbook on the market that tackles material details so thoroughly while presenting lush, inspired color photographs, plan drawings, and detailed architectural diagrams.