Today, architects and designers are beginning to look toward developments in new
"smart" or "intelligent" materials and technologies for solutions to long-standing problems
in building design. However, these new materials have so far been applied in a diverse
but largely idiosyncratic nature, because relatively few architects have access to
information about the types or properties of these new materials or technologies.
Two of the leading experts in this field - Addington and Schodek - have solved this
problem by incorporating all the relevant information of all the latest technologies
available to architects and designers in this one volume. They present materials by
describing their fundamental characteristics, and go on to identify and suggest how
these same characteristics can be exploited by professionals to achieve their design
goals. Here, the wealth of technical understanding already available in the materials
science and engineering literature is at last made accessible to a design audience.

* A unique text that outlines the topic of smart materials from a design perspective
* Learn about the latest research and practice of using smart materials and gain a
better understanding on how to utilize them in architectural design
* Benefit from the knowledge and insight of this experienced and respected author
team.

Today, architects and designers are beginning to look toward developments in new "smart" or "intelligent" materials and technologies for solutions to long-standing problems in building design. Unlike typical architectural material, whose fixed properties are at best a compromise within a complex building system, these new materials have properties that can be designed to be changeable in response to changes in the surrounding environment. Smart materials can be are color changing materials such as photochromics that change color when subjected to light and heat, light-emitting electroluminescents; shape changing polymeric gels and shape memory alloys. However, these new materials have so far been applied in a diverse but largely idiosyncratic nature, because relatively few architects have access to information about the types or properties of these new materials or technologies.