Building Ecology: First Principles For A Sustainable Built Environment

Please Disable Adblock to Show Download Link
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : Peter Graham
Genre : Technology & Engineering

Summary : 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.

Please Disable Adblock to Show Download Link
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : Emina K. Petrovic
Genre : Technology & Engineering

Summary : Principles for Evaluating Building Materials in Sustainable Construction: Healthy and Sustainable Materials for the Built Environment provides a comprehensive overview of the issues associated with the selection of materials for sustainable construction, proposing a holistic and integrated approach. The book evaluates the issues involved in choosing materials from an ecosystem services perspective, from the design stage to the impact of materials on the health of building users. The three main sections of the book discuss building materials in relation to ecosystem services, the implications of materials choice at the design stage, and the impact of materials on building users and their health. The final section focuses on specific case studies that illustrate the richness of solutions that existed before the rise of contemporary construction and that are consistent with a sustainable approach to creating built environments. These are followed by modern examples which apply some, if not all, of the principles discussed in the first three sections of the book. Provides a holistic and integrated approach to the issues associated with the selection of materials for sustainable construction Provides a thorough understanding of ecosystem services based on ecology research for built environment design Provides an original review of the impact of materials on human health Provides case studies to illustrate the points above

Please Disable Adblock to Show Download Link
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : Rob Fleming
Genre : Architecture

Summary : Sustainable Design for the Built Environment marks the transition of sustainable design from a specialty service to the mainstream approach for creating a healthy and resilient built environment. This groundbreaking and transformative approach introduces sustainable design in a clear, concise, easy-to-read format. This book takes the reader deep into the foundations of sustainable design, and creates a holistic and integrative approach addressing the social, cultural, ecological, and aesthetic aspects in addition to the typical performance-driven goals. The first section of the book is themed around the origins, principles, and frameworks of sustainable design aimed at inspiring a deeper, broader, and more inclusive view of sustainability. The second section examines strategies such as biophilia and biomimicry, adaptation and resilience, health and well-being. The third section examines the application of sustainability principles from the global, urban, district, building, and human scale, illustrating how a systems thinking approach allows sustainable design to span the context of time, space, and varied perspectives. This textbook is intended to inspire a new vision for the future that unites human activity with natural processes to form a regenerative, coevolutionary model for sustainable design. By allowing the reader an insightful look into the history, motivations, and values of sustainable design, they begin to see sustainable design, not only as a way to deliver green buildings, but as a comprehensive and transformative meta-framework that is so needed in every sector of society. Supported by extensive online resources including videos and PowerPoints for each chapter, this book will be essential reading for students of sustainability and sustainable design.

Please Disable Adblock to Show Download Link
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : Charles J. Kibert
Genre : Technology & Engineering

Summary : 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.

Please Disable Adblock to Show Download Link
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : Sharon B. Jaffe
Genre : Architecture

Summary : An accessible, climate-diverse guide that transforms readers from sustainable design novices to whole-solution problem solvers. Sustainable Design Basics is a student-friendly introduction to a holistic and integral view of sustainable design. Comprehensive in scope, this textbook presents basic technical information, sustainability strategies, and a practical, step-by-step approach for sustainable building projects. Clear and relatable chapters illustrate how to identify the factors that reduce energy use, solve specific sustainable design problems, develop holistic design solutions, and address the social and cultural aspects of sustainable design. Requiring no prior knowledge of the subject, the text’s easy-to-follow methodology leads readers through the fundamental sustainable design principles for the built environment. Sustainably-constructed and maintained buildings protect the health and improve the productivity of their occupants, as well as help to restore the global ecosystem. The authors, leading practitioners and educators in sustainable design, have created a resource that provides a solid introduction to broad level sustainability thinking that students can take forward into their professional practice. Topics include space planning for sustainable design, integrative and collaborative design, standards and rating systems, real-world strategies to conserve energy and resources through leveraging renewable natural resources and innovative construction techniques and their impact on our environment. Usable and useful both in and beyond the classroom, this book: Covers building location strategies, building envelopes and structures, integration of passive and active systems, green materials, and project presentation Examines cultural factors, social equity, ecological systems, and aesthetics Provides diverse student exercises that vary by climate, geography, setting, perspective, and typology Features a companion website containing extensive instructor resources Sustainable Design Basics is an important resource aimed at undergraduate architecture and interior design students, or first-year graduate students, as well as design professionals wishing to integrate sustainable design knowledge and techniques into their practice.

Please Disable Adblock to Show Download Link
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : Miles Keeping
Genre : Architecture

Summary : An inside view of how one of the world's leading architecture and engineering practice does business Sustainable Built Environments: Principles and Practice offers detailed, environmentally sound design solutions to a wide range of building engineering challenges. The text uses case examples and project data provided by engineers and designers at Arup Associates. It covers a broad range of relevant issues, with focused commentaries and explanations presented in an accessible format for use by students, busy practitioners and informed clients. Whilst this book stresses the importance of a unified approach to design, the text is divided into six principal chapters, each addressing an important aspect of sustainable architecture and engineering. These chapters (Master Planning, Transport, Energy, The Building Envelope, Environmental Services, and Materials) may be read on their own or in sequence as part of a narrative. Throughout the book, photographs, architectural and engineering drawings and diagrams, examples, and other data illustrate the case studies. Numerous web links are provided to additional information. This inspirational book: Focuses on the work of Arup Associates, the award winning architectural and engineering practice Uses real-life examples of functioning buildings and structures to provide information and guidance on the development of sustainable solutions Is packed with informative illustrations Sustainable Built Environments: Principles and Practice is a unique text that will inform and inspire architects and engineers, as well as students of those disciplines, around the globe.

Please Disable Adblock to Show Download Link
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : William W. Braham
Genre : Architecture

Summary : 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.