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Title: Green Architecture by James Wines ISBN: 3-8228-6303-3 Publisher: TASCHEN America Llc Pub. Date: July, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: More holes than in the Ozone layer
Comment: At first glance this seems like an excellent introduction to green architecture. James Wines has assembled an impressive collection of photographs of some of the eco-architecture that has been built over the past 30 years. But, a closer examination reveals numerous holes in the narrative. Wines has put together a grab bag of ideas that held my attention but left me scratching my head as to why he left so many important architects out of his survey, and included some of rather dubious distinction.
Wines holds Frank Lloyd Wright paramount in his pantheon of ecologically-minded architects, alluding to his concepts of "The Natural House" and "Organic Architecture," as virtually the only texts written on eco-architecture at the height of the Modern movement. Wines likes Wright more for his aesthetic vision of ecologically sensitive architecture than for any great technological innovations in the field of eco-architecture. Wines laments the fact that eco-architecture is driven too much by the latest technology, and not enough by aesthetic concerns.
He brushes over the Modern movement, which did offer a number of technological innovations, such as Buckminister Fuller's Dymaxion House and geodesic dome, and did explore traditional patterns in design, as in the work of Aldo Van Eyck, who was a contributing editor for Shelter. Wines wrote off Le Corbusier, ignoring the architect's later work, which was very site specific.
However, the most glaring omissions are contemporary architects like Ralph Erskine, Glenn Murcutt, Samuel Mockbee, and Ken Yeang who have all given a great deal of consideration to environmentally responsive architecture. You certainly can't call them "eco-freaks," as their work has been readily accepted by the mainstream architectural community.
But, Wines does offer a number of engaging examples from which to draw from, including his own work with SITE. Perhaps the most interesting examples are the "prophetic visions" such as an Ozone-maker by Jeffrey Miles, seemingly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, and Michael Sorkin's "Shroom," which has a wonderful kinetic quality like that of Kiesler's "Endless House." Great photos and illustrations, but read this book with grain of salt.
Rating: 4
Summary: Questions & Direction
Comment: This book questions the way architecture affects the environment, and encourages architects to ask the (W)right questions themselves to help remedy their destructive ways. I am disappointed that certain architects where left out of this book, for example there was one photo of a Malcolm Wells house, but no essay was done on him!? An essay on earthships would have fit into this book nicely also. I could go on, and on about all the Green Architects that where left out, maybe the author will include more with a new version 10 years from now. You need to be careful that you question all that the author tells you. For example the author seems convinced that Christians are bent on destruction because of their belief that the earth was made for them, therefore they have the right to destroy it, but in reality the Christian's point of view is just the opposite in that the earth was made for them so therefore it is their duty to protect it. What's with the photo taken in B.C. Canada, I never knew there where palm trees in Canada!? I bought this book for some of it's photos of unusual looking buildings, but have discovered there is allot more to the book than photo's. Read it, enjoy it, question it, question yourself.
Rating: 4
Summary: On the path to Eden
Comment: Our basic way of thinking and living must change in order for the human species to survive and evolve on a sustainable planet. We already possess the knowledge and the technology to rebuild paradise on earth. We now need a growing, global conciousness and the wisdom necessary to move forward.
This book gives an excellent historical and philosophical account on the shifts of human settlements and explains the imperative necessity of a change in attitude towards our built environment and its intrinsic relationship with its natural context.
Many examples and a variety of projects, attitudes, perspectives, and approaches to the environmental problems back Mr. Wines view that there is no alternative, that a green architecture must become a basic constant and not remain a mere superficial trend.
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Title: Sustainable Architecture White Papers by Earth Pledge ISBN: 0967509912 Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Big and Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century by David Gissen, National Building Museum (U.S.) ISBN: 1568983611 Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough, Michael Braungart ISBN: 0865475873 Publisher: North Point Press Pub. Date: 22 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: New Organic Architecture: The Breaking Wave by David Pearson ISBN: 0520232895 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 05 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design by Sandra F. Mendler, William Odell ISBN: 0471379069 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
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