Green Building Illustrated

Book excerpt: “Green Building Illustrated is a must-read for students and professionals in the building industry. The combination of incredibly expressive illustrations and accessible technical writing make concepts of green building on paper as intuitive as they would be if you toured a space with experts in sustainable building.” —Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO, and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council “The authors of Green Building Illustrated deliver clear and intelligent text, augmented by straightforward but compelling illustrations describing green building basics. This comprehensive book covers everything from the definition of green building, to details of high performance design, to sensible applications of renewable energy. This is a book with appeal for all architects and designers, because it addresses general principles such as holistic and integrated design, along with practical realities like affordability and energy codes. Green Building Illustrated describes a pathway for reaching Architecture 2030’s carbon emission reduction targets for the built environment.”—Ed Mazria, founder of Architecture 2030 “…a neophyte will have a very good overview of all the factors involved in green building. I see some excellent pedagogy at work!” — Jim Gunshinan, Editor, Home Energy Magazine Francis D.K. Ching brings his signature graphic style to the topic of sustainable design In the tradition of the classic Building Construction Illustrated, Francis D.K. Ching and Ian M. Shapiro offer a graphical presentation to the theory, practices, and complexities of sustainable design using an approach that proceeds methodically. From the outside to the inside of a building, they cover all aspects of sustainability, providing a framework and detailed strategies to design buildings that are substantively green. The book begins with an explanation of why we need to build green, the theories behind it and current rating systems before moving on to a comprehensive discussion of vital topics. These topics include site selection, passive design using building shape, water conservation, ventilation and air quality, heating and cooling, minimum-impact materials, and much more. Explains the fundamental issues of sustainable design and construction in a beautifully illustrated format Illustrated by legendary author, architect, and draftsman Francis D.K. Ching, with text by recognized engineer and researcher Ian M. Shapiro Ideal for architects, engineers, and builders, as well as students in these fields Sure to be the standard reference on the subject for students, professionals, and anyone interested in sustainable design and construction of buildings, Green Building Illustrated is an informative, practical, and graphically beautiful resource.