No comments about Lighting: Interior and Exterior.

No comments about Magic Metal: Buildings of Steel, Aluminum, Copper and Tin.

4 comments about Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design.

1. This book offers a good introduction into building with earth, straw and recycled materials. There are lots of nice photos with a brief story telling how and why the builders used the chosen materials.

   This book does not go into depth on how to make a home out of straw bale, adobe, rammed earth or any other techniques. There are lots of other good books that do though.

   I am kind of disappointed in a couple of the things the author says that are a bit misleading or untrue, probably unintentionally, but non the less they are there and you will not pick them out unless you are well read on alternative building techniques.




2. Finally! A book on sustainable architecture that shows quality buildings designed by Architects. All too often, these books show buildings that are not well designed, and detailed, and the quality of construction is lacking. I was very pleased to see well known architects, as well as lesser known architects' work detailed in this beautiful book. This book is wonderful to look at and it also has excellent, well written descriptions of each project.
   It's a great read, and it is now in my personal library. I also bought one for the office.



3. In the course of designing our new house, my family and I were looking for inspiration. This book gave us plenty of ideas and opened up new possibilities as to materials we could use that would be kinder to the environment that traditionally built homes.

   The photographs are beautiful, and it was interesting to read what each of the book's homeowners had to say about constructing their houses. I had always thought that homes built of rammed earth or bales of straw were boring-looking, but this book proves the materials can be used to make great-looking houses.




4. I received this much-anticipated book today. True to description, it contains beautiful photos (one page was misprinted with a wide pink streak across the photo) and text from architects, owners, etc. What it doesn't have much of is anything more than brief or shallow explanations of HOW sustainable living takes place -- minimal floor plans (meaning only for a few of the homes reviewed.

   For one clear example, Lake/Flato architects built a truly innovative vacation house, with the living area surrounded - wrapped really - in the bedrooms and bathrooms of the house. Only a floor plan can reveal their creative arrangement of the rooms. The house is featured in this book, but no indication of the remarkable new layout - maximum living in minimal space. (Look for the Contemporary Architecture series for Lake/Flato architects for more information.)

   Broad but shallow is a good summary for this pretty, but not nearly as informative as I had hoped, book.

No comments about Stay Cool: A Design Guide for the Built Environment in Hot Climates.

No comments about Network Practices.

No comments about Sustainable Facilities.

1 comments about Smart Materials and Technologies in Architecture.

1. Michelle and Dan - GREAT JOB!!! This book is very insightful on smart/new materials subjects. Because the authors have gone to describe in depth the fundamental characteristics of materials, it really helps the designer to understand how things work at the scale of each materials. I recommend this book for designers/ architects who have interests in smart materials and technologies. NP

3 comments about Alternative Construction: Contemporary Natural Building Methods.

1. If you have read few other books on alternate construction this is a good book for a general survey of current trends in natural building. Some good pointers on where to go for more details.
   If you are looking for an actual how-to guide to various building methods, this book is not the one you want. Certainly not as a solo guide if you are looking to be an owner-builder in the sense of building yourself.
   Worth reading by checking it out from your library, not worth purchasing.



2. This is an excellent resource book for those seeking to learn more about alternative construction methods and materials. It introduces the reader to straw bale, cob, light straw clay (a marvelous material), rammed earth and many other ecologically appropriate materials. It doesn't provide enough detail to help you build with these materials but it will help you choose which might be good for you and guides you to some of the key people and resources. The chapter on natural conditioning of houses is outstanding and provides performance estimates for a variety of building materials in cities as diverse as Denver and El Centro.

   david bainbridge is one of the authors of the Straw Bale House and a pioneer in passive solar heating and cooling.




3. A good informativeand worth to keep in your personal library

No comments about Expressive Form: A Conceptual Approach to Computational Design.

No comments about Architecture: Residential Drafting and Design.