4 comments about Sustainable Architecture White Papers (Earth Pledge Foundation Series on Sustainable Development).

1. A must read-and-keep for everyone young-and-not-so-young, specifically those who are deeply involved in the planning, design and construction of our environment, as well as the stakeholders, along the entire professionals in the vast field of building industry!



2. I am an architecture student, and this book has insight that I may not have gained through other resources. It is a fast read with a lot of great examples and theory. This resource contains multiple ideas from leading practitioners in environmental sustainability. Chapters include: "Practice, Building Community, Public Works, Homes and Schools, Products and Materials, and Resources."



3. Short papers on many different topics concerning green building, sustainable design, and renewable energy. Top experts in the field offer advice, experience, and resources.



4. The Earth Pledge Foundation's Sustainable Architecture White Papers brings together leading voices---of architects, designers, planners, educators, manufacturers, and journalists---in a handsome, diminutive volume. The essayists are each a part of the sustainable design movement; some have been in the trenches for years, such as Randy Croxton and Kirsten Childs, James Wines, and Bill Browning, and others are household names, such as William McDonough (writing with his chemist collaborator Michael Braungart). Some address the big picture and others deconstruct the micro components of the effort, such as non-toxic paints and office furniture. The volume includes an interview with Samuel Mockbee, who founded Auburn University's Rural Studio, and whose clear-eyed approach to how architecture fits into communities is remarkably elegant and simple. "The smart architect thinks rationally about a combination of issues including sustainability, durability, longevity, appropriate materials, and sense of place," he says. "The challenge is finding the balance between environmental considerations and economic constraints." What's important about a diverse collection of essays like this now is that it comes when the movement is breaking into the mainstream in a more complete way than it has in the past. Sustainability is being addressed, increasingly, as something that involves not just the physical but also the social, institutional, and spiritual aspects of life on earth. This volume is a valuable guide to that breakthrough, from the practical to the visionary.

2 comments about The Next Architect: A New Twist on the Future of Design.

1. The previous comment is actually more insightful than the book itself. As a student I found it insulting to my intelligence. Also, as the previous review hints, it is a criminal waste of paper. Literally, I have seen longer magazine articles but this somehow manages to cost more than a year's subscription.



2. First of all, with 144 pages (which really equates to 72 pages with text only on one leaf) the $40 dollar price tag is a way too steep. Secondly the 'new' insights and twists into the profession are really not all that new and groundbreaking. Here's a summary of the point's they bring up in the book. You be the judge.
   - Design is a team sport.
   - clients come first
   - the essence of design is in creating value
   - process innovation - bringing all the stakeholders into the project as early as possible. a.k.a. Integrated Practice. (most insightful point, however simplified)
   - faster and faster (chapter name)
   - Dynamic Decision-making (chapter name) Here's an italicized quote the authors pulled out of their text: "The ability to make a decision is the essential act of design" (By the way, the opposing leaf or every other page is dedicated to these 'salient' quotes from the text.)
   - Another quote, different chapter: "The next architect understands that money is a design tool"
   - Leadership (chapter name) Quote: "Without a conductor, no orchestra can function to its full potential - thus it is with team leaders of design."
   - The green machine (chapter name) - sustainability.
   - TCB: taking care of business (chapter name) - explains itself
   
   I guess unless you haven't practice architecture since 1901, a lot of these principles are not all that new. I guess my gripe with the book stems from not really delivering what the title suggests. If, however, you are a student just entering into the profession, the book would be a good source for a list of oversimplified tenants of what an architect does , but not really all that insightful into the ways the future architect will work.
   
   But that's just my opinion.
   
   
   
   -

1 comments about Facility Design and Management Handbook.

1. A very comprehensive manual (31 chapters, over 500 pages) for any level of facilty management professional. Each chapter is written by practicing professionals and "expert" consultants. Given that the field of FM covers so many areas, it is useful to have many different perspectives from professionals in the field formed into one big book. Chapters are grouped into phases of FM disciplines, i.e, planning, design, management, technology. There are high level topics such as Strategic Facility Planning, Sustainable Design, Portfolio Management and Business Transformation. Also very detailed, nuts & bolts for topics such as Financial Management for FM's, Energy Management, System Implementation for CMMS (Maintenance systems, Benchmarking, Condition Assessment, and case studies for CAFM technology. Brief chapter summaries are provided to assist reader with content coverage. There are lots of graphics/figures which help readability of this thick book, as well as a CD with websites and templates for RFP's, standards and process related functions.

No comments about Engineering Analysis with COSMOSWorks 2007.

No comments about China Living.

3 comments about Insider's Paris: An Intimate Tour.

1. Who wouldn't be tempted to peek into the window of an incredibly chic Parisian maison? Here's your chance. How did the editors convince these fabulous homeowners to open their doors and even some of their receipe files?



2. This is another book on Paris design in the same style as previous Elle Decor publications like "Elle Decor, the grand book of French design", and "The best of Elle Decor". With only a few exceptions, this book has many new pictures that haven't been published before(at least in American magazines). There are a few Christian Liaigre wanna be interiors, but very very few. Only Christian Liaigre seems to be able to pull off that style, so go purchase "Maison Christian Liaigre" if you love his work. The book devides Paris into various neighborhoods, and has a great suppliment in the back that gives you shopping, hotel, restaurants, museums, antiques, etc., for various sections of Paris. Although the French style is not always applicable to American architecture, design, and way of life, there are many beautiful and inspiring images thoughout.



3. There are many gorgeous photos of both the insides and outsides of public and personal spaces. I was actually surprised at the number of homes we get a peek into. If you enjoy interior design, of just about any style, you will find it here. I love all the personal libraries shown, crammed with books and interesting objects. Loved the mannequins, esp the life-sized guy sitting on the couch. I am a fan of exotic, eclectic decorating and found many examples to keep me happy with the book.

No comments about Spacecraft: Fleeting Architecture and Hideouts.

5 comments about Community By Design: New Urbanism for Suburbs and Small Communities.

1. I like this book because it suggests ways to make our communities better. I really like books that talk about how we can improve the status quo and/or better alternatives to the status quo.



2. This is an excellent introduction to how the philosophy of New Urbanism can be applied to suburbs. It would be very helpful to people serving on Zoning & Planning Commissions or City Councils.



3. The suburban landscape of the United States is the subject of this book, advertised as "the first practical guide to creating communities that truly are communities-not merely enclaves near off-ramps." Guided by the principles of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), the book uses excerpts from that organization's Charter to illuminate its advocacy of more connected development patterns. The book's scope extends beyond the commercial strip to include the major building blocks of towns and suburbs, such as apartment complexes, schools, parks and office campuses.
   
   Hall and Porterfield includes passages of fist-thumping suburbia-bashing similar to James Howard Kunstler's Home From Nowhere (1998, Touchstone Books) or Jane Holtz Kay's Asphalt Nation (1997, Crown). They also include graphic material, much of it adapted their earlier book, A Concise Guide to Community Planning (1994, McGraw-Hill).
   
   Readers knowledgeable about New Urbanism will find few surprises here, other than a few glaring factual errors, like a reference to "Tyson's Corners, Virginia, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States" (p. 7) and a claim that Edge Cities and urban villages are "two names for essentially the same thing" (p. 210). Good points crop up here and there, but recommendations are so limited in scope that it can be difficult to discern whether the sample site designs are intended to be good or bad examples, which limits the book's usefulness pedagogically. The lack of dimensions on most of the drawings also severely limits the book's utility as a practical reference. Hall and Porterfield contrast "conventional suburban development" and "Traditional Neighborhood Development" options for site plans, but the comparisons sometimes seem forced and nearly always ignore the larger regional issues so critical to the debate.
   
   One ideal audience for this book might suburban planning commissioners, who need guidance from designers in order to understand the differences between conventional suburban development pods and walkable, human-scaled neighborhoods.



4. Community by Design is an introduction to the basics of community design and New Urbanism. It's useful if that's what you're after, but not an interesting read if you're anything but a novice on the the topic. It reads like a texbook for a freshman-level course in urban design. Used for that purpose, I'm certain it would be more than successful. As a source of new, insightful commentary on the subject of New Urbanism it falls more than a little short.



5. I wanted to take the opportunity to recommend this book to anyone who has wondered why every place in America looks like everywhere else. There's a funny line in the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie where "our heros" are traveling by car across America in a race against time to foil the plan of the arch villan. As they pass the same gas station and fast food franchise again and again Bullwinkle says, "Haven't we been here before?" That was the same reaction my seven-year old had this summer when we were on our family vacation. We were in Richmond, Virginia and he said we've been here before because I remember that place over there. I had to explain to him what franchise architecture was and how just about every town in America has one of those types of buildings. This is a sad commentary on the American landscape that we as consumers expect the to see the familiar sign of our favorite business. This is one reason why I wrote this book; to let folks know that there's a better way. In fact, we used to do it better. The types of places that capture our attention and long to live are the places that were built prior to World War II. The small towns that so many families idealize as the place they'd rather raise their kids are the same places that couldn't be built today because of "modern" zoning ordinances. And the sad thing is today's generation is the first to be raised totally in a suburban environment that requires owning an automobile just to survive. If you're intersted in how this could change and what the alternatives are Community by Design is your book! There's 250 illustrations and photos that show you what's possible right now. The book helps you understand why community can and should be designed and lets you see some places where it has been. If you ask me this is a great book. ...

1 comments about A Monograph of the Work of Mellor, Meigs, & Howe.

1. This monograph has good text and lots of photographic images for anyone who loves period houses. What sets it apart from other books of its kind is the inclusion of pages of detailed drawings by the architects. The illustrations are absolutely magnificant and very educational for those interested in how these intricate works went from the minds of the architects to actual built works of enduring beauty. A very good book.

No comments about Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop: Basics of ArcView, Arceditor, and Arcinfo (Getting to Know).