Author: Peter Graham
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405147547
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
Buildings consume 40% of our planet’s materials and 30% of its energy. Their construction uses up to three million tonnes of raw materials a year and generates 20% of the soild waste stream. If we want to survive our urban future, there is no option but to build in ways which improve the health of ecosystems. Understanding the concept of ecological sustainability and translating it into practice as sustainable development is a key challenge for today’s built environment professionals. The skill and vision of those who shape our cities and homes is vital to achieving sustainable solutions to the many environmental, economic and social problems we face on a local, national and global scale. Peter Graham offers here a holistic view of ecologically sustainable building by drawing on established areas of knowledge, demonstrating their relevance to the environmentally-conscious building professional and putting the process, product and impact of building into context. Case studies illustrate how sustainable principles have been applied successfully and discussion topics are offered to stimulate thought. Building Ecology will help planners, surveyors, designers and builders to incorporate sustainability into their everyday practice by: · showing which styles of building are ecologically sustainable · providing fundamental knowledge for making decisions using the principles of ecologically sustainable building · explaining a complex subject in a clear, balanced way. Building Ecology sets out the current scientific view of how nature works and how buildings link with and affect nature. It provides fundamental knowledge for building in harmony with nature and keeping Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems healthy.
Author: Bjorn Berge
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136434623
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 448
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Book Description
The Ecology of Building Materials explores key questions surrounding sustainability of building materials. It provides technical data to enable design and building professionals to choose the most appropriate materials for a project: those that are least polluting, most energy efficient, and from sustainable sources. The book also gives information and guidance on a wide range of issues such as recycling, detailing for increased durability and Life Cycle Analysis. Berge’s book, translated from the Norwegian by Chris Butters and Filip Henley, offers safe and environmentally friendly material options. It provides an essential and easy-to-use reference guide to this complex subject for the building industry professional. New to this edition: • Thorough exploration of building materials in relation to climate change issues • Extensive updating of basic data, as well as the introduction of a wide range of new materials • Methods for recycling and reuse of materials • More information on the interaction between materials and the indoor environment, ventilation and energy use • Full colour text and user-friendly larger format Bjørn Berge is a practicing architect, researcher and lecturer. Since the 1970s, he has written several books on building ecology for the Scandinavian public. He is one of the founders of Gaia Architects who have developed a wide range of pioneering techniques in sustainable building.
Author: Kiel Moe
Publisher: Actar
ISBN: 9781948765398
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 316
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Book Description
Dissects the construction ecology, material geographies, and world-systems of a most modern of modern architectures: the Seagram Building.0In doing so, it aims to describe how humans and nature interact with the thin crust of the planet through architecture. In particular, the immense material, energy and labor involved in building require a fresh interpretation that better situates the ecological and social potential of design.00The enhancement of a particular building should be inextricable from the enhancement of its world-system and construction ecology. A ?beautiful? building engendered through the vulgarity of uneven exchanges and processes of underdevelopment is no longer a tenable conceit in such a framework.00Unless architects begin to describe buildings as terrestrial events and artifacts, architects will?to our collective and professional peril?continue to operate outside the key environmental dynamics and key political processes of this century.
Author: Charles J. Kibert
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113450831X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 330
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Book Description
Industrial ecology provides a sound means of systematising the various ideas which come under the banner of sustainable construction and provides a model for the design, operation and ultimate disposal of buildings.
Author: William W. Braham
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317540786
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 277
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Book Description
Modern buildings are both wasteful machines that can be made more efficient and instruments of the massive, metropolitan system engendered by the power of high-quality fuels. A comprehensive method of environmental design must reconcile the techniques of efficient building design with the radical urban and economic reorganization that we face. Over the coming century, we will be challenged to return to the renewable resource base of the eighteenth-century city with the knowledge, technologies, and expectations of the twenty-first-century metropolis. This book explores the architectural implications of systems ecology, which extends the principles of thermodynamics from the nineteenth-century focus on more efficient machinery to the contemporary concern with the resilient self-organization of ecosystems. Written with enough technical material to explain the methods, it does not include in-text equations or calculations, relying instead on the energy system diagrams to convey the argument. Architecture and Systems Ecology has minimal technical jargon and an emphasis on intelligible design conclusions, making it suitable for architecture students and professionals who are engaged with the fundamental issues faced by sustainable design. The energy systems language provides a holistic context for the many kinds of performance already evaluated in architecture—from energy use to material selection and even the choice of building style. It establishes the foundation for environmental principles of design that embrace the full complexity of our current situation. Architecture succeeds best when it helps shape, accommodate, and represent new ways of living together.
Author: Laura C. Zeiher
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 280
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Book Description
"Environmentally Conscious Design has become a major interest of architects, designers, planners, public officials, and industry leaders around the world. Unlike other books on the subject that focus on only one or another aspect of ecological design, The Ecology of Architecture answers the question, How do we design and build ecologically sound and affordable structures today that will perform well tomorrow? Written by an experienced practitioner in the field, the book details all facets of green building by providing comparative energy performance solutions, recycling alternatives, cost considerations, materials analyses, information on legislation, as well as examples of practical applications."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author: Timothy Beatley
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610910656
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 279
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Book Description
Current patterns of land use and development are at once socially, economically, and environmentally destructive. Sprawling low-density development literally devours natural landscapes while breeding a pervasive sense of social isolation and exacerbating a vast array of economic problems. As more and more counties begin to look more and more the same, hope for a different future may seem to be fading. But alternatives do exist. The Ecology of Place, Timothy Beatley and Kristy Manning describe a world in which land is consumed sparingly, cities and towns are vibrant and green, local economies thrive, and citizens work together to create places of eduring value. They present a holistic and compelling approach to repairing and enhancing communities, introducing a vision of "sustainable places" that extends beyond traditional architecture and urban design to consider not just the physical layout of a development but the broad set of ways in which communities are organized and operate. Chapters examine: the history and context of current land use problems, along with the concept of "sustainable places" the ecology of place and ecological policies and actions local and regional economic development links between land-use and community planning and civic involvement specific recommendations to help move toward sustainability The authors address a variety of policy and development issues that affect a community -- from its economic base to its transit options to the ways in which its streets and public spaces are managed -- and examine the wide range of programs, policies, and creative ideas that can be used to turn the vision of sustainable places into reality. The Ecology of Place is a timely resource for planners, economic development specialists, students, and citizen activists working toward establishing healthier and more sustainable patterns of growth and development.
Author: Daniel E. Williams
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0471709530
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
Meeting the Challenge of Sustainable Design "Daniel Williams's Sustainable Design is . . . a thoroughly practical call for the design professions to take the next steps toward transformation of the human prospect toward a future that is sustainable and sustaining of the best in human life lived in partnership not domination." --From the Foreword by David W. Orr, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College "In this pioneering book, Daniel Williams provides the sort of intelligent, thoughtful, experienced insights that--if followed--will ensure that we make the right choices. It should be on the desk of every architect in the world." --Denis Hayes, president and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation and coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970 Architects identify "sustainability" as the most important change in the future of their profession. Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning is a practical, comprehensive guide to design and plan a built environment compatible with the region's economic, social, and ecological patterns. In this book, Daniel Williams challenges professionals to rethink architecture and to see their projects not as objects but as critical, connected pieces of the whole, essential to human health as well as to regional economy and ecology. Comprehensive in scope, Sustainable Design answers key questions such as: * How do I begin thinking and designing ecologically? * What is the difference between "green design" and "sustainable design"? * What are some examples of effective change I can make that will have the most impact for the least cost? Written for architects, planners, landscape architects, engineers, public officials, and change agent professionals, this important resource defines the issues of sustainable design, illustrates conceptual and case studies, and provides support for continued learning in this increasingly central focus of architects' and urban planners' work. Williams's book features winning projects from the first decade of the AIA's Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten award program.
Author: Frederick R. Steiner
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610917383
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
Humans have always been influenced by natural landscapes, and always will be—even as we create ever-larger cities and our developments fundamentally change the nature of the earth around us. In Human Ecology, noted city planner and landscape architect Frederick Steiner encourages us to consider how human cultures have been shaped by natural forces, and how we might use this understanding to contribute to a future where both nature and people thrive. Human ecology is the study of the interrelationships between humans and their environment, drawing on diverse fields from biology and geography to sociology, engineering, and architecture. Steiner admirably synthesizes these perspectives through the lens of landscape architecture, a discipline that requires its practitioners to consciously connect humans and their environments. After laying out eight principles for understanding human ecology, the book’s chapters build from the smallest scale of connection—our homes—and expand to community scales, regions, nations, and, ultimately, examine global relationships between people and nature. In this age of climate change, a new approach to planning and design is required to envision a livable future. Human Ecology provides architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and planners—and students in those fields— with timeless principles for new, creative thinking about how their work can shape a vibrant, resilient future for ourselves and our planet.
Author: Fikret Berkes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136341722
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377
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Book Description
Sacred Ecology examines bodies of knowledge held by indigenous and other rural peoples around the world, and asks how we can learn from this knowledge and ways of knowing. Berkes explores the importance of local and indigenous knowledge as a complement to scientific ecology, and its cultural and political significance for indigenous groups themselves. This third edition further develops the point that traditional knowledge as process, rather than as content, is what we should be examining. It has been updated with about 150 new references, and includes an extensive list of web resources through which instructors can access additional material and further illustrate many of the topics and themes in the book. Winner of the Ecological Society of America's 2014 Sustainability Science Award.
