Big and Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century

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Cities operate as unnatural ecosystems. Buildings breathe in and out. They consume and waste resources. They foul the air. Now more architects and engineers are working with greater regard for the environmental consequences of big buildings. "Green architecture" seems incongruous: creating artificial places that somehow connect us better to the natural world, so is it trendy tokenism or sincere citizenship? This book surveys the field and assesses the state of sustainable civic and corporate architecture. Sleekly designed and generally informative, it presents a variety of building types and evolving technologies that allow massive construction projects to step more lightly on the earth. These are office towers and mixed-use spaces from San Francisco to Shanghai to Seville that employ double-skin facades, advanced ventilation systems, natural light and energy, "graywater" recovery, skyscraper gardens, and rooftop habitats. Contextual essays link these trends to visionary traditions (Wright, Fuller, et al.) as well as to environmental and urban dynamics. The tone balances alarm, awareness, and even post-Enron moral philosophy. Steve Paul
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
More than a century after its inception, the skyscraper has finally come of age. Though it has long been lampooned as a venal and inhospitable guzzler of resources, a revolutionary new school of skyscraper design has refashioned the idiom with buildings that are sensitive to their environments, benevolent to their occupants, and economically viable to build and maintain. Designed by some of the best-known architects in the world, these towers are as daring aesthetically as they are innovative environmentally. Big and Green is the first book to examine the sustainable skyscraper, its history, the technologies that make it possible, and its role in the future of urban development. The book examines more than 40 of the most important recent sustainable skyscrapers-including Fox & Fowle's Reuters Buildings in New York, Norman Foster's Commerzbank in Frankfurt, and MVRDV's spectacular Dutch Pavilion from Expo 2000 in Hanover-with project descriptions, photographs, and detailed drawings. Interviews with such leaders in the field as Sir Richard Rogers, William McDonough, and Kenneth Yeang are also included.


About the Author
David Gissen is associate curator at the National Building Museum. He has taught at the American University, Yale University, and the University of Virginia School of Architecture. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.


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The National Building Museum in Washington, DC, mounts a major exhibition promoting the idea that "green" doesn't preclude "growth." Running from January to June 2003, it showcases the ecologically responsive efforts of major architectural firms based mostly in the United States and Britain. This well-illustrated exhibition catalog contains brief profiles of 50 recent buildings and projects and five short essays by notable theorists and practitioners. The theme throughout is that eco-friendly office towers, industrial parks, and shopping centers will, eventually, be good for the bottom line. Token appeals are made for more livable environments and planetary stewardship, but the primary incentive is the prospect of handsome payoffs in reduced energy consumption and improved employee productivity. For those who gag at the thought of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and other corporate favorites being counted as "green," James Wines's Green Architecture may prove a more palatable survey of this important international trend. The current volume sheds light on the inroads the environmental movement is making in the realm of global big business and as such is recommended for most public and academic libraries.-David Soltesz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.


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