Design For Life: The Architecture of Sim Van der Ryn (Hardcover)

~ Sim Van Der Ryn (Author)
Key Phrases: generation ecological design, marin solar village, ecologic footprint, Farallones Institute, Highland House, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Design for Life: The Architecture of Sim Van der Ryn surveys the work and principles of Sim Van der Ryn, a world leader in the field of sustainable architecture. Sharing his years of experience as a teacher and using his building designs as examples, the author shows us that buildings are not objects but organisms, and cities are not machines but complex ecosystems.

Design for Life illustrates how Van der Ryn came to see the shifting patterns in nature and how these patterns profoundly affect how people live and work in the structures we build. Van der Ryn explores how architecture has created physical and mental barriers that separate people from the natural world, and how to recover the soul of architecture and reconnect with our natural surroundings. Appointed California State Architect by then-Governor Jerry Brown, Van der Ryn introduced the nation's first energy-efficient government building projects. His vision heralded a Golden Age of ecologically sensitive design and resulted in the adoption of strict energy standards and disability access standards for all state buildings and parks. Van der Ryn has helped inspire architects to see the myriad ways they can apply physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design.

Sim Van der Ryn is the president of Van der Ryn Architects, a northern California firm known worldwide for its work in sustainable architecture. He taught architecture and design at the University of California, Berkeley for more than thirty years, inspiring a new generation to create buildings and communities that are sensitive to place, climate, and the flow of human interactions. He is the author of six groundbreaking books about planning and design, including Sustainable Communities and Ecological Design. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area.

From the Inside Flap

Design for Life: The Architecture of Sim Van der Ryn surveys the work and principles of Sim Van der Ryn, one of the world's most important leaders in the field of sustainalbe architecture. Sharing his years of experience as a teacher and using his building designs as examples, the author shows us that buildings are not objects but organisms, and cities are not machines but complex ecosystems. Fleeing Holland just weeks before Hitler's invasion, the Van der Ryn family settled in the outskirts of New York City. Young Sim grew up exploring the tiny pockets of grass, puddles, and swamps he found in Queens. An avid high school art student, he progressed to studying architecture in college. But he found the pervading modernist-style buildings to be emotionally cold and lacking human sensitivity. He longed for a way to restore architecture back to life. His breakthrough came during the frequent campus visits of R. Buckminster Fuller, who inspired him to think and design with the geometries of the natural world. Design for Life shows how the young architect began to look at the world with new eyes and saw the shifting patterns in nature and how these patterns profoundly affect how we live and work in the structures we build. Using his own projects and teaching experiences as examples, the author reveals the evolution of his thinking and the emergence of a new process of collaborative design that honors the buildings' users and connects them to the Earth. The book shows how architecture has created physical and mental barriers that separate us from our world, but how we can recover the soul of architecture and reconnect with our natural surroundings. Sim Van der Ryn is the president of Van der Ryn Architects, a Northern California firm known for its work in sustainable architecture. He taught architecture and design at the University of California, Berkeley, for over 30 years, inspiring a new generation to create buildings and communities that are sensitive to place, climate, and the flow of human interactions. Appointed California State Architect in the 1970s by then-Governor Jerry Brown, Van der Ryn introduced the nation's first energy-efficient government building projects. His vision and persuasive skills heralded a golden age of ecologically sensitive design and resulted in the adoption of strict energy standards and disability access standards for all state buildings and parks. As the author of six groundbreaking books about planning and design, including Sustainable Communities (1986, with Peter Calthorpe), Ecological Design (1996, with Stuart Cowan) and numerous articles, Van der Ryn has helped inspire architects to see the myriad ways they can apply physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design. The author lives and works in Northern California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith; 1ST edition (August 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586855301
• ISBN-13: 978-1586855307
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #479,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glimpse into the Heart of a Green Crusader, November 22, 2005

By	Jane Talkington "GreenQueen" (Stillwater, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Anyone who has a true desire to understand the essence of green building and sustainable architecture simply must have Sim Van der Ryn's new book "Design for Life." It is a poetic response to a market hungry to understand authentic ecological design and sensitive building practices. "Design for Life" is a treasury that catalogs the life, architecture, and philosophy of Sim Van der Ryn, a pioneering ecological architect. This book is a delightful piece of writing by Sim Van der Ryn and is to be experienced, not just read.

Sim Van der Ryn buries this jewel in the text on page 127: "The heart of ecological design is not efficiency or sustainability. It is the embodiment of the animating spirit, the soul of the living world as embodied in each of us waiting to be reborn and expressed in what we design."

"Design for Life" chronicles Sim's childhood inspirations after World War II, the trials and successes at Berkeley in the 1960's, his experiments in sustainable home construction and self-supporting communities, and his environmentally responsive style of architecture. Woven throughout the 175 pages are poignant stories, watercolors illustrating thought processes, and 200 rich color photos.

Sim is the real deal, he is an architect even a builder could love. He lived it, breathed it; designed it, built it, improved it, and analyzed it. His stories convey a deep sense of reverence for building structures with meaning. The book will float you down a lazy river through a kaleidoscope of experiences that leave you in awe of the pioneering efforts of one individual with vision and a dedication to be true to himself. He did not intentionally create the new genre of green architecture. A universal intelligence flowed through Sim and his architecture was the fruits.

Sim Van der Ryn is best known for a spectacular rammed earth guitar house and the ever-impressive Real Goods corporate headquarters. He also co-authored a landmark book with Peter Calthorpe in 1986, "Sustainable Communities," a book that was early to recognize the intelligence of planned villages.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Buildings Need to be Built, January 11, 2006

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The small town I live in is going through a boom period. There are new housing developments all over and in all price ranges. And the houses really suck. From little boxes at the low price end to McMansions at the high end, there is absolutely no originality, no thought of energy or water conservation. (I live in a desert climate, all of these houses have thick lucious grass lawns that have to be watered every day.)

I'm thinking of a new house, smaller, since the kids are gone, but with some special features for my hobbies. It is really refreshing to see a book like this one that takes into account what can be done. The book is sort of a cross between an autobiography and an idea book. The autobiographical emphasis is on how events in his life shaped the ideas he has transposed into buildings.

I don't aee any of the buildings described in the book as being exactly what I want, but I see lots of parts of various buildings that when combined together come pretty close. All in all, I found more of what I wanted in this book than in any other idea book I've seen.