Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design

Rating:
Summary: Living Homes shows "Architecture"
Review: Finally! A book on sustainable architecture that shows quality buildings designed by Architects. All too often, these books show buildings that are not well designed, and detailed, and the quality of construction is lacking. I was very pleased to see well known architects, as well as lesser known architects' work detailed in this beautiful book. This book is wonderful to look at and it also has excellent, well written descriptions of each project.
It's a great read, and it is now in my personal library. I also bought one for the office.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, but lacking
Review: I received this much-anticipated book today. True to description, it contains beautiful photos (one page was misprinted with a wide pink streak across the photo) and text from architects, owners, etc. What it doesn't have much of is anything more than brief or shallow explanations of HOW sustainable living takes place -- minimal floor plans (meaning only for a few of the homes reviewed.

For one clear example, Lake/Flato architects built a truly innovative vacation house, with the living area surrounded - wrapped really - in the bedrooms and bathrooms of the house. Only a floor plan can reveal their creative arrangement of the rooms. The house is featured in this book, but no indication of the remarkable new layout - maximum living in minimal space. (Look for the Contemporary Architecture series for Lake/Flato architects for more information.)

Broad but shallow is a good summary for this pretty, but not nearly as informative as I had hoped, book.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: In the course of designing our new house, my family and I were looking for inspiration. This book gave us plenty of ideas and opened up new possibilities as to materials we could use that would be kinder to the environment that traditionally built homes.

The photographs are beautiful, and it was interesting to read what each of the book's homeowners had to say about constructing their houses. I had always thought that homes built of rammed earth or bales of straw were boring-looking, but this book proves the materials can be used to make great-looking houses.

Rating:
Summary: A good intro.
Review: This book offers a good introduction into building with earth, straw and recycled materials. There are lots of nice photos
with a brief story telling how and why the builders used the chosen materials.

This book does not go into depth on how to make a home out of straw bale, adobe, rammed earth or any other techniques.
There are lots of other good books that do though.

I am kind of disappointed in a couple of the things the author says that are a bit misleading or untrue, probably unintentionally, but non the less they are there and you will not pick them out unless you are well read on alternative building techniques.

Rating:
Summary: A good intro.
Review: This book offers a good introduction into building with earth, straw and recycled materials. There are lots of nice photos with a brief story telling how and why the builders used the chosen materials.

This book does not go into depth on how to make a home out of straw bale, adobe, rammed earth or any other techniques. There are lots of other good books that do though.

I am kind of disappointed in a couple of the things the author says that are a bit misleading or untrue, probably unintentionally, but non the less they are there and you will not pick them out unless you are well read on alternative building techniques.