Designing the Sustainable School [Hardcover]

Alan Ford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1864702370 | ISBN-13: 978-1864702378 | Publication Date: June 14, 2007

This book presents a survey of K-12 schools from around the world that combine the best in aesthetics, sustainability, and high-performance design. K-12 school construction currently represents one of the largest sectors of new construction of any building type. Considering rising energy costs and concerns for the environment, there has never been more attention focussed on the need to design schools responsibly. It highlights the work that the best architects are doing to respond to those needs while still creating beautiful schools for enhanced learning. Author Alan Ford has designed more than 75 K-12 schools projects, and with a longstanding commitment to sustainability and a passion for architecture, he is perfectly positioned to present this illuminating collection of sustainable school projects from around the world. This colourful book is a compendium of ideas illustrating how some very talented architects and committed facility planners are meeting the challenge of creating better schools

Editorial Reviews

Review

This compilation of more than 40 international case studies commemorates sustainable design that considers not only eco-friendly features, but also the quality of a child's academic experience. Ford has collected an intriguing array of green school designs that range from a three-room schoolhouse in Gando, Bouglou, Burkina Faso, to a 2,500-student high school in California. Each selected design embodies Ford's vision for the future of sustainable academic design: "Imagine a school where the indoor air quality reduced the risk of exposure to disease, where the acoustics were such that learning was enhanced, where the quality of the finishes and architecture made you feel welcomed, where test scores improved," he writes.

The selected case studies demonstrate how acoustics, visual comfort, light, and color perception have been incorporated into environmentally mindful designs for schools. Images, floor renderings, and elevations give the reader a spatial sense of each project.

In the foreword, Richard S. Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council states, "Every morning we send our children to school to learn, to explore, and to imagine -- but we send them to buildings that are more like prisons than schools." This book is a celebration of the imaginative architects and educators across the globe who are breaking through the limitations of traditional school design to incorporate green innovation that harmonizes with principles of creative design for places of learning. --Rebecca Ward, Architectural Record: Schools of the 21st Century (The McGraw-Hill Companies), January 2008

About the Author

Alan Ford is a principal of Alan Ford Architects. He has designed more than 75 K-12 high-performance school projects and is co-author of the book 'A Sense of Entry'.

A licensed architect with 28 years of experience, Alan has a Bachelor of Environmental design and a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado. Alan previously was a partner with Hutton Ford Architects and worked with John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson and Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects prior to establishing his own architectural practices.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Images Publishing Dist Ac (June 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1864702370
• ISBN-13: 978-1864702378
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 9.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Ford is owner and design principal of Alan Ford Architects P.C. Since 1979, Alan has designed over 80 significant school projects for a variety of school districts within Colorado. Alan has served on the editorial board of the award-winning AIA magazine, "Architect Colorado," and as an honorarium professor and guest critic at the University of Colorado, School of Architecture. Alan's passion is participating in and promoting quality, high-performance, sustainable architecture with an emphasis on educational environments. He is author of the international bestseller "Designing the Sustainable School" and co-author of "A Sense of Entry: Designing the Welcoming School." Website: www.fordarch.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Resource for All Building Types, October 27, 2007

By 

J.D. Rittenhouse (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Designing the Sustainable School (Hardcover)

Good for architects and for clients.

1)Architects:
This book is an excellent resource for sustainable architecture in general in addition to sustainable school design. It looks at 40+ buildings from around the world and in various architectural styles, discussing natural lighting, innovative HVAC systems, rainwater capturing and re-use, siting, natural ventilation, solar heating and cooling and many other systems. The buildings range from a community built clay brick building in rural Africa to modern high design.
A great resource when designing your own project (house, school, whatever building type) in terms of brainstorming how to incorporate sustainable design systems. Also excellent for taking the next research step of comparing a variety of approaches to each individual system, and the book ends with a list of websites for further info. A valuable and inspiring find!

2) Clients:
A very helpful review of a wide variety of sustainable systems, it covers buildings of all budgets and styles. There is a list of the architects of each of the buildings, but the book can also be used for getting some useful background to help in working with an architect of your choosing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for the architect, facilities planner, school superintendent, November 26, 2008

By 

Spike (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designing the Sustainable School (Hardcover)

This book highlights 45 real high-performance K-12 school designs from across the U.S. and internationally, complete with brilliant photographic images, floor plans and elevations. It is not a technical manual on green school design but rather a highly visual presentation of sustainable practices that have successfully been implemented in schools with the learning environment in mind. Too often we find ourselves incorporating high-performance building features into schools with the bottom line guiding our clients' decision-making process: How can we reduce energy costs to save money in the long-term? What is overlooked is the way green school design can actually enhance the learning environment to create an enriched, positive academic experience for the child in addition to being eco-friendly and the energy-saving benefits thereof.

The author writes, "Imagine a school where indoor air quality reduced the risk of exposure to disease, where the acoustics were such that learning was enhanced, where the quality of the finishes and architecture made you feel welcomed... where test scores improved..."

Through the use of bullet points, the author creates a snapshot of each case study that demonstrates the extent of the sustainable features and concepts employed by the architects represented in this book. While perhaps lacking in how-to detail, "Designing the Sustainable School" inspires through images and examines the breadth of what architecture firms are doing to embrace not just high-performance building design but high-performance learning: creating schools that are both sustainable AND habitable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!, January 3, 2008

By 

T. Davis "archrocks" (Honolulu, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Designing the Sustainable School (Hardcover)

The book was a little pricey for my budget - but turned out to be well worth the expense! The range of school designs and locales provide great examples and were extremely helpful to me as I am working on a dissertation about school design. Finding up to date school design information - especially high performance school design, is quite difficult. This book made that so much easier. I also recommend the Prakash Nair Design Patterns for schools book.