When we think about building a home we want something that's stylish, affordable and that we can live in comfortably for a very long time - but rarely do we think that a green home can be all those things and more."12 Unique & Innovative Green Home Designs from The Green Builder" shows you that building a green home is just as affordable as a 'standard' home, giving you year round comfort, higher air quality, increased energy savings and a better way of life.
The 12 concept designs found in "12 Unique & Innovative Green Home Designs from The Green Builder" prove that a green home can be modern, sleek and effective, and all at the same price as a standard home.
The 2008 global recession and the nearly universal awareness of significant climate change have begun to alter architectural thinking. Even though architects will continue to dream up seemingly function-free building forms for the most conspicuous consumers, mainstream architects are being asked to provide energy efficient, cost-driven forms that also delight the eye. The movement to preserve and reuse existing structures has gained momentum, and the incidence of new and old architectural juxtapositions has increased. Forward-thinking planners are advocating m ore concentrated urban density, in part to decrease inefficient use of energy for transportation. As this thinking becomes public policy, architects will be challenged to adapt historically significant buildings for new uses, often by creating additions to existing forms. Although not entirely new, architectural dilemmas concerning how new meets old will occur revealing issues that most architects w ho design new buildings have not often thought about. Historic preservationists and sustainability advocates seem to concentrate solely on single issues leading to aesthetically clumsy architecture while agency review panels and the public approval process continue to erode the integrity of building designs making the creation of truly excellent designs difficult. Reclaimed Buildings: New Meets Old explores these topics in depth, with a focus on architectural design. The book addresses the question of aesthetic sustainability given the new influences and design tools that have emerged during the first decade of the 21st century. It is written for practitioners as well as students of architecture, and includes examples and case studies of built works that have successfully wrestled with the question of how new meets old in architecture.
-Inventive designs that make the most of today's beautiful and challenging building sites.