Precision in architecture : certainty, ambiguity and deviation / Mhairi McVicar.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

A precisely ambiguous wall -- In praise of deviation and control : the mortar joints of the Church of St Peter -- Defining precision and ambiguity -- Disputing precision -- An emerging desire for precision -- A precise specification for an Iron Museum -- Anticipating precision at the Museum of Childhood -- A meeting between Mies and OMA -- The precise control of deviation at the Commons -- A precisely crude ceiling at the MTCC -- Productive deviations from certainty.

This book offers a detailed insight into the desire for, and consequences of, precise communications in the daily life of contemporary architectural practice through close readings of constructed architectural details by Sigurd Lewerentz, Caruso St John Architects, Mies van der Rohe and OMA. In the professionalised context of the contemporary architectural profession, precise communications - drawings, specifications, letters, faxesand emails- are charged with the complex task of translating architectural intent into a neutral and quantifiable language which is expected to guarantee an exact match between the architects' intentions and the constructed result. Yet, as any architectural practitioner will know, it is doubtful whether the construction of any architectural project may ever exactly match all written and drawn predictions. This book challenges claims to certainty which have been attributed to such communications from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, and critiques ongoing expectations of certainty in contemporary architectural production.

Mhairi McVicar is a Reader at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK and practiced architecture in Chicago, London and the Orkney Islands. Her research, critically examining intersections between architectural theory and architectural practice, has been published with Routledge and Architectural Research Quarterly.

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