The Graphic Standards Guide to Architectural Finishes: Using Masterspec® to Evaluate, Select, and Specify Materials by ARCOM and The American Institute of Architects (edited by Elena M.S. Garrison, AIA, CCS, CSI; John Wiley & Sons, 2002).

The Graphic Standards Guide to Architectural Finishes: Using Masterspec® to Evaluate, Select, and Specify Materials by ARCOM and The American Institute of Architects is like that scrumptious confection that blends the wonders of peanut butter with the sublimity of chocolate to create the perfect candy bar. "When preparing drawings, architects refer to Architectural Graphic Standards for guidance. When selecting materials and products and when writing specifications, they turn to MASTERSPEC®, a product of The American Institute of Architects published by ARCOM," explains editor Elena M.S. Garrison, AIA, CCS, CSI, in her preface. "By combining the invaluable resources of Graphic Standards and MASTERSPEC, this book efficiently assists an architect who is preparing a project's construction documents."

Simply put, this new book takes two architectural classics, the text of MASTERSPEC product classifications and the drawings of Architectural Graphic Standards, to make one text for the specification of finishes—walls, floors, and ceilings. One suspects it may be a new classic in itself, beginning with classroom instruction and ending on the desk of anyone who works on specs.

MASTERful organization
It's pretty much a given that you will not sit down and read this tome cover-to-cover, so you will especially appreciate the careful attention to order and detail that makes it easy to find the products you seek. This is the major contribution of the MASTERSPEC material. The chapters correspond to the MasterFormat division numbers and cover:
Division 5 Metals
Division 6 Woods and Plastics
Division 8 Doors and Windows
Division 9 Finishes.

The substructure keys to the five-digit Masterspec product numbers: for instance, 09310 is ceramic tile, and 08351 is folding doors. Each piece identified by a five-digit numbers is a complete essay unto itself about a particular material or construction. Each begins with general comments; goes on to describe particular characteristics and concerns, such as installer considerations, fire concerns, and performance considerations; and ends with appropriate references.

Art-ful architecture
Tying together the text are the crystal-clear graphic depictions we have come to know and love (and oftentimes depend on for definition) in Architectural Graphic Standards. They illuminate the words, making concepts easy to understand in a glance, and strip each component down to its essence. Many are familiar, as they have appeared in several Graphic Standards editions for time-tested assemblies that don't change. Others are new, depicting new technologies or improvements that advance our practice. For visually oriented users, they are beacons for more complete understanding.

Perhaps the unique usefulness of The Graphic Standards Guide to Architectural Finishes is best summed up by AIA Executive Vice President /CEO Norman L. Koonce, FAIA, and Edward F. "Ted" Smith, FAIA, CSI, in the book's foreword. They offer the famous words of Eliel Saarinen, who said: "Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context—a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan."

"By combining two distinctly different and valuable resources," Koonce and Smith write, "information from each will address the next larger context and will inform and empower professionals to do the same."

You now can order The Graphic Standards Guide to Architectural Finishes from the AIA Bookstore, $112.50 AIA members/$125 retail (plus $6 shipping per order). To order from the AIA Bookstore: phone 800-242-3837 option #4, fax 202-626-7519; or send an email.

—SS

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.