In the 21st century, the word “detail” appears constantly in discussions of building, and we use it in many different ways—yet just over 250 years ago, “detail” meant nothing at all particular to the work of architects, engineers, or builders.

Detailing Worlds is the first book to examine the origins and evolution of “detail” as a concept with meanings specific to practices of building. By exploring how past meanings and roles were ascribed to detail in different “worlds of practice”—those of academics, technicians, students, engineers, and architects—Detailing Worlds looks to the future, illuminating the ways disciplinary knowledge and the concepts on which it is based evolve and change over time. It is a story about how such concepts are slowly but constantly reconceived, redefined, and transformed by individuals as they interact with one another, and how this process is shaped by the ever-changing sociocultural and technological dimensions of the world around us.

Richly illustrated with more than 200 images, including figures from rare texts, archival student drawings, and practitioners’ construction documents from the 18th through 20th centuries, Detailing Worlds ventures to tell the history of a disciplinary-specific idea and offer insights about how we think and speak about the practice of building today.