"On Weathering" illustrates the complex nature of the architectural
project by taking into account its temporality, linking technical
problems of maintenance and decay with a focused consideration of their
philosophical and ethical implications.
In a clear and direct account supplemented by many photographs
commissioned for this book, Mostafavi and Leatherbarrow examine
buildings and other projects from Alberti to Le Corbusier to show that
the continual refinishing of the building by natural forces adds to,
rather than detracts from, architectural meaning. Their central
discovery, that weathering makes the "final" state of the construction
necessarily indefinite, challenges the conventional notion of a
building's completeness.
By recognizing the inherent uncertainty and inevitability of weathering
and by viewing the concept of weathering as a continuation of the
building process rather than as a force antagonistic to it, the authors
offer alternative readings of historical constructions and potential
beginnings for new architectural projects.