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Review by Lizzy Van Lysebeth, interior designer and editor of the interior design forum www.id-sphere.com

In Detail: Interior Surfaces and Materials, delves into the world of materials used in interior design. The editor Christian Schittich stresses the importance of material use and selection, and the decisive role it has in creating remarkable atmospheres. He highlights that in certain sectors like shop design and gastronomy, fit-outs with a shorter life span, designers are often presented with great freedom of scope to experiment at will and use materials to suggest lifestyles and new trends or reconfirm brand positioning. After a short introduction he uses existing interior project samples of well recognised design firms to explain the use of different materials, and the atmospheres and effects that have been created. On every page explanatory text is interspersed with rich photographic material, plans, elevations or detail drawings of the projects. Every material discussed is accompanied with relevant technical information like density, fire rating or compression-, bend-, contraction- and surface structure properties. Among the projects handled are Zaha Hadid’s floor design at the Hotel Puerta America in Madrid fitted out in the LG composite material Hi-Macs, the bamboo plywood use by Erhard An-He Kinzelbach Knowspace in the Multimedia-pavilion in Jinhua and the fibreglass fashion store in Berlin by Corneille Uedingslohmann Architects just to name a few. Some materials are explained more in depth with a few pages explaining dry construction systems and melamine-resin coated surfaces to end the book with an informative overview of the wide spectrum of materials available. Among those you will find all sorts of panels (plaster, timber, metal, glass, plastic, composite, textiles, etc.), tiles, coatings, glass and a very last section dedicated to sustainable and recyclable ways of using materials. This 175 page book is well structured with beautiful explanatory photographs to suite any coffee table. On the other hand however the editor succeeded to include sufficient technical information to make it an inspirational, useful and informative guide. His project based approach intermitted with specific technical information on traditional and contemporary materials alike creates a read which is to the point without becoming overwhelming. To conclude, this hardcover edition is a nicely presented well bound publication which is a well-worth addition to any interior designer, architect, student or design enthusiast’s library.