Green Building / Architecture

The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design
by Sandra, Aia Mendler, William, Aia Odell, O Hellmuth

The publisher, Pam Sommers, Public Relations Manager, Taschen America , May 31, 2000: "When is a building or a house "ecological?" Does the use of natural materials and solar cells on the roof make a building an example of "green" architecture? James Wines presents for discussion the various - and sometimes irreconcilable - theories of environmentally friendly architecture, making a case for an architecture that not only focuses on technological solutions, but also tries to reconcile man and nature. Among the seventy examples presented of contemporary ecological architecture are works by Emilio Ambasz, Gustav Peichl, Arthur Quarmby, Jean Nouvel, Sim Van der Ryn, Jourda and Perraudin, Log ID, James Cutler, Stanley Saitowitz, François Roche, Nigel Coates, and Michael Sorkin."

Environmental Building News, April 1998: "The SOURCEBOOK is unique among green building guides in its exclusive focus on natural building methods, such as strawbale, clay infill, cob, thatch and timber framing. Useful information on associated products, services, and tools is also provided. For builders, architects, and lay people interested in natural building, The Alternative Building Sourcebook makes an excellent reference."

Book Description: In nearly all moderate and hot-dry climates building with earth offers important benefits over current building materials. Written by an experienced German engineer who has built with earth and lectured widely on the subject, this revolutionary new book demonstrates how! Refined, updated and expanded for English speaking readers from the author's bestselling Lehmbau-Handbuch (1994), the Earth Construction Handbook is unique in providing a survey of applications and construction techniques for a material which: Is naturally available and easy to use with even basic craft skills. Absorbs and desorbs humidity faster, and to a higher extent, than any other. Produces hardly any environmental waste. Balances indoor climate and moisture creating a healthy environment. It also includes physical data, and explains the material's beneficial qualities and how to maximize these. The information given can be practically applied by engineers, architects, builders, planners, craftsmen, and laymen who wish to construct cost-effective buildings which provide a healthy, balanced indoor climate.

The Natural House: A Complete Guide to Healthy, Energy-Efficient, Environmental Homes
by Daniel D. Chiras

From Book News, Inc.: "This sourcebook examines the options for building a house that is economical, energy-efficient, nontoxic, kind to the environment, and pleasurable to inhabit. Explores the pros and cons of 14 natural building methods, including straw bale, rammed earth, cob, cordwood, adobe, earthbags, papercrete, earthships, and others, all well- illustrated in b&w."

The New Independent Home: People and Houses That Harvest the Sun
by Michael Potts

Potts's original book has become one of our best sellers and flagship of the series of popular Solar Living Books we have produced in conjunction with Real Goods Trading Company. Because of its impact in bringing the almost unknown promise of solar energy to thousands of readers, one longtime observer of energy trends described the publication of the original Independent Home as "the most important event in the solar industry in more than a decade".

Although many designers have succeeded in applying ecological or "green" design principles to architecture on the small scale, city centers remain an uncharted frontier when it comes to achieving integrated, ecologically responsive buildings. Architect Ken Yeang takes us an important step forward by addressing the challenge of making the skyscraper an "intensive" large building type, sustainable -- that is a structure that has a beneficial impact on the natural environment and increases energy efficiency in the core. Yeang's premise is that the skyscraper is a built form that will stay with society well into the future and that its worldwide popularity is a reason in itself to rethink its relationship to the environment. The Green Skyscraper presents a general framework for looking at ecological design, a step-by-step guide to examining the fundamental premises of such an approach as well as its practical applications to the contemporary skyscraper Issues discussed include the use of energy and materials and their physical impact on the ecosystem, illustrated with case studies from Yeang's own projects, experiments, and research.

It is arguably a form of cultural insanity that industrial civilizations constantly bathed by free and clean energy from the sky (the sun and the wind) continue to depend upon dirty and limited chemical fuels that poison the people, their foods, and the land upon which they depend. Happily, this comprehensive sourcebook provides those of you with foresight a way out of this madness; it includes products ranging from simple energy-saving devices such as compact fluorescent lights to home-scale energy-harvesting systems that utilize the sun, wind, and water to make electricity for people living "off-the-grid." Chapters focus on Independent Living, Land, Shelter, Harvesting Energy, Managing Energy Systems, Heating and Cooling, Water, Energy Conservation, the Nontoxic Home, Home and Market Gardening, Mobility and Electric Vehicles, and Livelihood and Learning. Committed to selling only products that promote environmental responsibility at an honest value, The Real Goods Trading Company is one of the fastest-growing companies in America.

This book offers a technique for building homes that heat and cool themselves in a wide range of different climates, using ordinary building materials available anywhere and with methods familiar to all building contractors and many do-it-yourselfers. A formerly patented design for author James Kachadorian's Solar Slab heat exchanger is now available for the use of anyone motivated by the desire to build a house that needs a backup furnace or air conditioner rarely if ever. This is a building book for the next century. Applicable to a diversity of regions, climates, budgets, and styles of architecture, Kachadorian's techniques translate the essentials of timeless solar design (siting a home in harmony with nature, using windows as solar collectors, achieving year-round comfort by balancing good insulation with healthy supplies of fresh air) into practical wisdom for today's new generation of solar builders.

Design Outlaws on the Ecological Frontier
by Chris Zelov, Phil Cousineau

Reviewer: Marc Camporeale from New York, NY This book is one of the only works that addresses the topic of Ecological Design in an in-depth manner. Moreover, it focuses on the progenitors of this movement - the design outlaws that had the courage to forge entirely new and radical paths in art, design, science and technology. Powerful stuff - important message - innovative and engaging subject matter.

From Book News, Inc.: "Thompson, an editor with Landscape Architecture magazine and Sorvig (architecture and planning, U. of New Mexico) rethink the assumption that all built landscapes are environmentally sound, and offer practical and professional advice for sustainable landscape construction, design, and maintenance. They describe concepts and resources, and present and illustrate over 100 projects from around the world."

Synopsis: This work aims to provide a possible specification of the problems involved in greening the built environment and an articulation of the solutions. It begins with a discussion of sustainability as a concept and its applicability to contemporary towns and cities. The following chapters take up particular aspects of the built environment and sustainability in greater depth and include the construction industry, transport, health, planning, community and equity issues, employment and the economy. The links between environmental damage, poverty and the economy are themes in this book. It focuses on interconnections and on solutions to all three problems. The final chapter explains how the achievement of sustainable development is, in the authors' opinion, dependent on detailed solutions to everyday problems of modern society.