Trade Literacy

Abstract

This thesis examines trade literacy in architecture, addressing the gap between design intent and real world execution. Through the construction of a custom built room, the project explores how trades navigate unforeseen issues such as material behavior, sequencing, and tolerance beyond what architectural drawings anticipate. Using practice based research, the author, as both designer and builder, documents and analyzes design breakdowns and trade adaptations. A process journal with photographic documentation captures material adjustments, sequencing challenges, and tolerance issues amongst the various building methods. Analysis is structured around material behavior, sequencing and assembly logic, and tolerance and precision, with an emphasis on trades as design collaborators. Findings reveal that trade literacy knowledge of materials, tools, and construction methods bridges the gap between architectural ambition and buildable reality, advocating for its integration into architectural education and practice to enhance constructability and material intelligence.