The Sourcebook of Contemporary Green Architecture

Book excerpt: Lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs, drawings, floor and aerial plans, The Sourcebook of Contemporary Green Architecture features today's most noteworthy environmentally-friendly architectural projects. Comprehensive chapters account for the core concerns of all architectural projects (the needs of architects, clients and partners, as well as logistical area and cost management concerns, and energy management), while allowing readers a hands-on understanding of what it takes to envision, create, and develop an environmentally-conscious master plan, building, or landscape design. Featured projects exhibit a range of sustainable design ideas from bioclimatic strategies to more complex off-the-grid constructions that include passive designs, prefab systems, water-harvesting mechanisms, and green renovations. Projects include building eco-certifications and eco-design solutions to utilize advanced technologies, and both "cost management plans" as well as plans geared toward more lax budgets are featured. All projects included in The Sourcebook of Contemporary Green Architecture have been completed or are ongoing in the 21st century and were chosen as highly successful examples of green architects meeting the individual needs and tastes of their clients. It is the perfect resource for architects, city-planners, engineers, and designers to find the knowledge and inspiration to carry us into a "green" architectural future.