Architecture And The Environment: Bioclimatic Building Design

Sustainable building has commonly been seen as separate from mainstream architecture and has been accorded the status of worthy but dull design. Adopting the term "bioclimatic" in preference to "green" to describe buildings which are inspired by nature and have a clear strategy for minimizing environmental depredation, this book seeks to revise this judgement. Introductory chapters trace the history of bioclimatic design in architecture, exploring the relationship between architecture and the natural environment. An examination of three projects currently under construction points to future directions in bioclimatic architecture. The contemporary projects featured in the main section of the book are diverse - from office buildings which flaunt their measures for energy conservation in the form of external solar shading, wind towers, glazed atria and photovoltaic modules, to a church built from tubes of recycled paper and a museum constructed in timber and inserted in a woodland setting. Architects whose work is featured include Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, Edward Cullinan, Foster and Partners, Herzog and Partners, Glenn Murcutt and Arata Isozaki.