Customer Reviews

Ecological Design and Building Schools: Green Guide to Educational Opportunities in the United States and Canada

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I have been interested in Ecological Building (primarily Cob Building)for at least 14 years and have logged many hours online in search of schools and courses. Thankfully someone gave me a copy of this book and I now have a compendium of schools at my fingertips. The 'Program Tables,'comparisons of schools' curriculum. learning environment etc. were particularly useful and the school 'Profiles' were very inspiring (eg. EcoVillage at the Farm) for a novice builder like myself.

Being Canadian, I appreciated that research on Building schools was carried out for my country and included both schools that I recognize and ones that were new to me.

Any student of Ecological Design and Building will find this book an invaluable resource. Buy it!

The rise of environmental design or "green" architecture is by far the most important movement in architecture and the building industry for the last two decades. And for years young people have faced the daunting task of finding the best education to meet their needs. My architectural office is constantly receiving questions from students asking where they should study. At last we have a clear and effective guide to the broad range of opportunities to learn about sustainable design.

The guide takes on the very broad and sometimes confusing diversity of ecological design fields, from "natural building" schools to institutions that offer study in more technological solutions. This book covers an incredible range of schools, including traditional 4 year college as well as part-time schools, post-professional education, and organizations that provide hands-on instruction.

The book is very well organized, and I found the ratings charts of the schools to be especially clear and useful. I only wish there were more of the concise 1 page profiles that paint a very clear portrait of what the schools are like. While students still have to do more personal research as to which school will ultimately suit them best, they now have an excellent base to get them started.

I was very pleased to finally find a well written and thoroughly comprehensive study of the options out there for someone looking for an education based on ecological design. This is a very important and developing area of study and needs specific attention. When I was in school for design you only had "word of mouth" on what was out there for a design education based on the environment. The author has obviously recognized the need for such a resource for people interested in design, as well as people interested in teaching and implementing sustainable design programs. Great book. I may buy another to send to some old professors. Very recomended.

I was waiting for this book to be published, because I was told from multiple sources that it was going to be a good source for ecological design and building schools, but i was extremely disappointed in this book. It is in no way comprehensive and I am not sure why you would publish a book like this that was not comprehensive.

There is some decent information in here, but nothing that you can't get from spending a little bit of time doing some searches on the internet.

It is a shame, because this type of book is needed and a great idea.