The objective of this "primer" on plastics is to acquaint the architect, designer, builder, and contractor with polymers and their potentialities in building, including not only structural aspects but interior, decorative, and lighting applications as well. The user of this book will obtain basic, essential knowledge of the nature and the applicability of these versatile materials. While it does not attempt to cover the entire field, it provides a firm groundwork in an area that could well profit from a knowledge of fundamental facts; equipped with this information the architect or builder can avoid trial-and-error methods in the employment of the plastics medium in building.The book begins with an extensive series of examples, including a number of four-color plates, thus providing a visual introduction or sample "case history" of the many uses of plastics in modern architecture. The text classifies polymers into simple groupings of application in building, describes their general properties, and sets forth composite materials and assemblies based on plastics, expounding the principal methods of fabrication as they affect uses. The parts of a building and the ways in which plastics can be employed are described in detail.The text is liberally supported by sketches and tables, clearly and usefully presented. The generic names and properties of the principal plastics currently in structural use and their applications in construction work and utility appliances are summarized in comprehensive form.