Architects are visual people by and large, and we don’t like clutter or disorganization unless it’s a very carefully ordered chaos within acceptable parameters.  (If you disagree with this broad generalization please feel free to express yourself with wild abandon in the comments section – it is the perfect forum for dissent).  Anyhoozle, I’m bringing this up because a lot of the product data we look at when assessing different building materials that get specified for projects makes my head hurt.  The brochures tend to be tacky, poorly organized, and a lot of the products have silly names like “Resplenda Brick Pavers” (ok I made that up, but you know what I mean).  Additionally, ever since manufacturers realized that green building products sell, they go to great lengths to explain “why choosing plastic grass for your lawn is better for the environment”* and to make other claims about the sustainability of whatever they happen to produce.

Images courtesy Studio Conover

You’ll be happy to know that in San Diego, California, a ray of hope shines like a beacon up from the inky dark hole of architectural product literature.  Said ray of hope is Studio Conover, “a cross-disciplinary company focusing on architectural consultation, materials specification and product design for the built environment. [They] specialize in exterior colorways and materials specification consultation with architects, builders and developers,” according to David Conover, the eponymous owner of the studio.  Really, they’ve got a great idea.  Information about a product that is organized, accurate, and communicated in a clear and aesthetically pleasing manner attracts architects like honey attracts bears, which makes it more likely that they will specify a certain product or material (the architects, not the bears).

The studio also happens to put out a fantabulous blog called Contexture that is full of useful information (some of which I am currently reviewing as I try to fix all the Internet Explorer CSS bugs I’ve managed to incorporate into this website in the past few days).  The name for the blog is a mashup of the words Conover and Texture, which is an appropriate connotation, given that:

“Much of our process involves working texture within and throughout the context of the particular job at hand. Whether we’re selecting a specific brick shape, color and installation pattern for a residential community, referencing an archaic woodtype letterform or contemplating the coarseness of cement or paper, texture remains a predominant underlying component simply because it is so representative of the products and projects we work on.”

Hopefully, people who make the stuff we use to construct buildings will use the people who design the stuff that explains what people make to help the people who design the buildings, and everyone will be better off!

*I’ve been meaning to write a post about plastic grass for ages, but since lawns in general are a hot button issue for me, I’m afraid it’s just going to be a massive rant.  I guess this post started out as a rant too – sorry.