Buildings for industry

This book offers a great diversity of types of buildings under the general heading of industrial. Adding to this diversity is the fact that architecture is at last penetrating into some businesses-like lumber yards or steel fabricating plants-which, though long on the scene, are virtually new clients for architects. Warehouses are another old type of business that is currently giving architects new problems. We have warehouses, of course, since the beginning of trade, but it is only In recent years that scientific methods have been developed to cut handling costs and make full use of modern materials-handling equipment. Truck docking and terminal facilities have also emerged from back-alley construction and, with the aid of engineering consultation on trucking methods, have become true contemporary architecture, functionally planned and scientifically designed. Not all the emphasis in this book is on the novel. In particular, some Architectural Record articles which were collected in the 1951 industrial buildings have such continuing validity that they have been reproduced, with little if any change, in the present volume. Most of these are in the first, or “Design Principles” section, as might be expected. Included also are plants for the utilities and service industries, for the repair and maintenance of vehicles, the printing of newspapers, the generation of power, even for an enterprise devoted exclusively to mail-order campaigns.