Five Houses, Ten Details
Edward R. Ford

Edward Ford's forty years of practicing and teaching architecture have focused on one area: the architectural detail. Yet, despite two hugely influential books (The Details of Modern Architecture, volumes 1 and 2), numerous articles, and lectures given from Vancouver to Vienna, there are two questions Ford has, remarkably, never answered: "What is a detail?" and more importantly, "What is a good detail?" Ford is an architect as well as a writer, so it is not surprising that rather than answering these questions in a third book, he spent six years on the design and construction of a house. Building it was not an exercise in the application of ideas about detail; it was, rather, a mechanism for answering those two simple questions.

Five Houses, Ten Details presents five designs—all by Ford, all for himself, all for the same site—only one of which was built. Each unbuilt design evolved or was abandoned for a variety of reasons. Many simply cost too much; others were based on presumptions that proved inaccurate or unproductive. All, to some degree, are present in the final design. Each of the five designs explores a different aspect of architectural detail: how it acts to connect to or disconnect from a site; how it is expressive of material; how it acts to reveal structure; how it articulates the act of construction; and how it can be inconsistent, in a beneficial way, with the remainder of the building. Detail for Ford is not an accessory to architecture but its essence. Each design in Five Houses, Ten Details explores and articulates one aspect—site, structure, material, joinery, or furniture—at the expense of the others. Each architectural exploration leads to a larger understanding of construction and a larger understanding of how details communicate. Woven throughout with historical references and specific examples of his design process, Five Houses, Ten Details is an accessible and at times personal account of one man's exploration of architectural detail.


Edward Ford is the author of The Details of Modern Architecture (MIT, 1990) and The Details of Modern Architecture, Volume 2 (MIT, 1996); both of which have been a required text for architecture students worldwide. Ford is currently a professor at the University of Virginia School of Architecture.
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Editorial Reviews

The Architect's Newspaper:
"Ford has crafted a fine study not only of an indispensable element of architectural practice, but also an illuminating look into the maturation of an individual designer's process, and the elements of personal history that led him to approach design the way that he does." (March 3, 2010)

Architectural Record:
"Ford's legacy is as a scholar of architectural detail, and his introspective prose is always eloquent, self-critical, and satisfying." (April, 2010)

InDesign Magazine:
"Every architect knows that God (or is it the Devil?) is in the detail, and Edward Ford, who has two previous substantial tomes on the subject, tells us why. Five Houses, Ten Details belongs to a Princeton Press Series Writing Matters, and it is this, and the fact that the author is a writer, teacher and architect, that sets the framework in which the book is presented. The aurhor is a patient man; he has taken six years and five designs in his exploration to find a satisfactory solution and build a house for his family; and at the same time to structure a set of lessons which he trusts leads to the ultimate definition, that detail is not an accessory to architecture but its essence." — Richard Dinham

William Stout Architectural Books:
"An accessible, personal account of Edward Ford's exploration of architectural detail. Part of the Writing Matters series." (June, 2009)

Attention Must Be Paid, Architects Newspaper:
"Nevertheless, Five Houses, Ten Details succeeds on multiple levels. Ford has effectively crafted a fine study not only of an indispensable element of architectural practice thats often misunderstood or overlooked, but also an engaging and illuminating look into the maturation of an individual designers process, and the influences and elements of personal history that led him to approach the way that he does." — Kevin Greenberg (February 24, 2010)

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