When you feel like chowing down on some freshly woven steel mesh, a timber panel or simply a charred piece of ceramic, you’ll be happy to know there’s been a lot of research put into those materials you’re ingesting. We know they’re useful for such activities as ‘building stuff’, but how do they react to a group of senior citizens who are against unethical awesome tree harvesting practices? We may never know. What we will know is how those materials react to other environmental conditions and concerns through a brilliant, new Guide to Building Materials. A free guide at that.

Building Materials… and the Environment

Compiled by Joanne Denison and Chris Halligan of Stephen George & Partners, the Guide is a 166 page update of the first edition delivered by the Leicester, UK based Architecture firm. It is also one of the most complete overviews of building materials. While specifically highlighting construction materials, it provides properties, advantages, disadvantages and sustainable alternatives of materials you’ve likely had to use on a project. Even though some environmental positioning is speculative at best, this guide does well at steering around misnomers and claims to provide practical and relevant facts. Overall, it’s just a great reference to have around.

You can download the Building Materials Guide (PDF 7.4MB)

Author

Josh is founder and editor at SolidSmack.com, founder at Aimsift Inc., and co-founder of EvD Media. He is involved in engineering, design, visualization, the technology making it happen, and the content developed around it. He is a SolidWorks Certified Professional and excels at falling awkwardly.