"Manual is no typical architectural monograph. Manual is a guidebook to how the Philadelphia practice Kieran Timberlake builds their buildings. It opens the firm's files of details of twenty-nine projects ranging from houses to schools. The architects' process of crafting reveals everything from handrails to pressure-equalized cavity walls." "Anyone who has ever looked at a building and wondered "how did they do that?" will gain insight from Manual. The work of Kieran Timberlake makes no distinction between technology and composition. By disclosing their design strategies - from framing, joining, and hinging to scaling, lining, and weaving - and illustrating them with photographs and detailed working drawings, Kieran Timberlake provides a level of understanding of their own work, and architectural design in general, not otherwise possible." "A must for practitioners and students alike, Manual brings the process of design and details of architecture to life, revealing the beauty of building derived from composition within a tradition of innovative assembly."--Jacket.