Sustainable Architecture White Papers: Essays on Design and Building for a Sustainable Future

A must read-and-keep for everyone young-and-not-so-young, specifically those who are deeply involved in the planning, design and construction of our environment, as well as the stakeholders, along the entire professionals in the vast field of building industry!

I am an architecture student, and this book has insight that I may not have gained through other resources. It is a fast read with a lot of great examples and theory. This resource contains multiple ideas from leading practitioners in environmental sustainability. Chapters include: "Practice, Building Community, Public Works, Homes and Schools, Products and Materials, and Resources."

Short papers on many different topics concerning green building, sustainable design, and renewable energy. Top experts in the field offer advice, experience, and resources.

The Earth Pledge Foundation's Sustainable Architecture White Papers brings together leading voices---of architects, designers, planners, educators, manufacturers, and journalists---in a handsome, diminutive volume. The essayists are each a part of the sustainable design movement; some have been in the trenches for years, such as Randy Croxton and Kirsten Childs, James Wines, and Bill Browning, and others are household names, such as William McDonough (writing with his chemist collaborator Michael Braungart). Some address the big picture and others deconstruct the micro components of the effort, such as non-toxic paints and office furniture. The volume includes an interview with Samuel Mockbee, who founded Auburn University's Rural Studio, and whose clear-eyed approach to how architecture fits into communities is remarkably elegant and simple. "The smart architect thinks rationally about a combination of issues including sustainability, durability, longevity, appropriate materials, and sense of place," he says. "The challenge is finding the balance between environmental considerations and economic constraints." What's important about a diverse collection of essays like this now is that it comes when the movement is breaking into the mainstream in a more complete way than it has in the past. Sustainability is being addressed, increasingly, as something that involves not just the physical but also the social, institutional, and spiritual aspects of life on earth. This volume is a valuable guide to that breakthrough, from the practical to the visionary.