Design Ecologies: Sustainable Potentials in Architecture [Paperback]

Lisa Tilder (Editor), Beth Blostein (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1568987838 | ISBN-13: 978-1568987835 | Edition: 1

Contemporary architects are under increasing pressure to offer a sustainable future. But with all the focus on green building, there has been little investigation into the meaningful connections between architectural design, ecological systems, and sustainability. A new generation of architects and engineers aims to recast the green movement for the twenty-first century and transform design into a positive agent by balancing the societal needs of humans with environmental considerations. Design in this sense is a larger concept having as much to do with politics and ethicsas with buildings and technology.

Design Ecologies is a groundbreaking collection of never-before-published essays and case studies by today's most innovative "green" designers. Their design strategiessocial, material, technological, and biologicalrun the gamut from the intuitive to the highly technological. One essay likens window-unit air conditioners in New York City to weeds in order to spearhead the development of potential design solutions. Latz +Partner's Landscape Park integrates vegetation and industry in an urban park built amongst the monumental ruins of a former steelworks in Duisburg Nord, Germany. The engineering firm Arup presents its thirty-three-square-mile masterplan for Dongtan Eco City, an energy-independent city that China hopes will house half a million people by 2050. An introduction by designer Bruce Mau leads off a stellar list of emerging designers, including Jane Amidon, Blaine Brownell, David Gissen, Gross.Max, Peter Hasdell, Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, R&Sie(n), Studio 804, and Work Architecture Company.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This Solar Skin will be appearing in a new book titled DesignEcologies, edited by Lisa Tilder and Beth Blostein and published by Princeton Architectural Press." --Reality Sandwich

"AUDC's lastest is out now. Go grab yourself a copy of Design Ecologies: Sustainable Potentials in Architecture edited by Lisa Tilder and Beth Blostein. There, amidst essays by Kieran Timberlake, Arup, and Bruce Mau, we tackle the crucial topic of fern bars and their relationship not only to a history of the green movement but also to the history of sexuality and submission. --Varnelis.net

"The book presents an overview of contemporary ecological practices in architecture, landscape architecture and community design. " --Studio Formwork

"A new generation of architects, landscape architects, designers, and engineers aims to recalibrate what humans do in the world according to how the world works as a biophysical system. Design Ecologies is a ground-breaking collection of never-before-published essays and case studies by today's most innovative designers and critics. Their design strategies--social, material, and biological--run the gamut from the intuitive to the highly technological." --A Daily Dose of Architecture

"Blaine Brownell (Architecture) has contributed a chapter, `Material Ecologies,' to Design Ecologies, edited by Lisa Tilder and Beth Blostein and published by Princeton Architectural Press. The book is a collection of original essays and case studies from the most innovative `green' designers. A new generation of architects `aims to recast the green movement for the twenty-first century and transform design into a positive agent by balancing the societal needs of humans with environmental considerations,' according to the publisher. Design in this sense is a larger concept having as much to do with politics and ethics as with buildings and technology." --University of Minnesota

"Design in this sense is a larger concept having as much to do with politics and ethics as with buildings and technology.

Design Ecologies is a groundbreaking collection of never before published essays and case studies by today's most innovative `green' designers.

Their design strategies social, material, technological, and biological run the gamut from the intuitive to the highly technological." --Dexigner

"Contemporary architects are under increasing pressure to offer a sustainable future. But with all the focus on green building there has been little investigation into the meaningful connections between architectural design, ecological systems and environmentalism..." --WorldArchitectureNews.com

"Design Ecologies is a provocative collection of never before published essays and case studies from some of today's most innovative designers and critics. They approach the issue from wide-ranging, and sometimes opposing perspectives yet with a commonality that ties them all together into a rich tapestry that, at least for me, gave birth to one idea after another. However, now that I'm reflecting upon what I just wrote, it occurs to me that it isn't as much the ideas raised within the essays that stirred me up, it is the questions that authors of the various essays ask, not only of us, but of themselves. These essays are not locked into stone absolutes, but the mind-thoughts and resulting thought-struggles of the authors as they personally grapple with the questions they raise. As I read I felt as if I also was part of the struggle to arrive at tentative answers that make sense within the contexts of varying ecologies, or environments." --Urban Paradoxes

About the Author

Lisa Tilder is an architect and an associate professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University, where she teaches design, representation, and theory. She has received design awards including the Young Architect's Award from the Architectural League of New York and the Far Eastern International Digital Architectural Design Award.

Beth Blostein is an associate professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University and a partner with Bart Overly in the architecture firm Blostein/Overly Architects. Their work has been exhibited nationally at venues including the National Building Museum and the Center for Architecture in New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (November 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568987838
• ISBN-13: 978-1568987835
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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