Customer Reviews

The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design

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I am a property owner considering LEED Certification for a building remodel. As a starting poijnt, I have read the LEED guidelines at the Green Building Council website. However, I was looking for something more substantial to help understand the process. "The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design" fills that purpose.

This Guidebook is written by the HOK Architectural firm which has been one of the leaders in sustainable design. The book has three sections. The first chapters are a check list of design guidelines and questions that one needs to explore during the LEED design process. The second section looks at sustainability issues as related to certain building types and the final section are a series of short articles on LEED projects the firm has worked on.

This Guidebook is on its Second Edition and is invaluable for all those interested in LEED certification. It is well written and clearly organized. It is an expensive book but well worth the price. It is a great introduction into what is becoming an important area of design. Highly recommended.

Although I normally read books in twos and threes on the same topic to gain varied perspectives, this is the first time I am writing a single review encompassing two books. They mesh together so well that I cannot imagine studying this subject without having BOTH in hand.

The two books are Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition and The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design.

Start with the introduction in the Guidebook, which is blessed with a Foreword from Paul Hawken and see especially page 13 where the cost benefits are shown, with 48% energy savings for Gold, 30% for Silver, and 28% for Certified. See also the illustration on page 15 that I have reproduced in the image I am loading for both books: the old decision model was Cost at the top, with Schedule and Quality anchoring the triangle. the new decision model still has cost at the top, but Schedule and Human Health, Safety, & Comfort are on corners of this new pentagon, and the bottom is achored by Quality and Ecology, or what Paul Hawken would call in his books, "true cost" to the Earth and Humanitas.

NOW shift to the Contents and the Detailed Contents of Sun, Wind, & Light. As one reviewer notes, this is a course book. I did not recognize it as such, I saw it as one of the most gifted complete collection of factors to learn and apply that I have ever seen for ANY topic of study. The content and organization of this book is nothing short of Nobel-level "wow." Finish going through this book.

NOW go back to the first 218 pages of the Handbook, and study the checklists and varied helpful boxes and explanations. The rest of the book (217-459) is case studies of specific buildings, each a few pages, that can be left for last.

At this point, I went into the Glossaries and Bibliographies of both books. Each is distinct, neither supplants the other. They must be taken together. I read Glossaries, and Indices, as content, and use them as a form of "second look" (in extremely complex books, this is actually where I start).

NOW go back to the Case Studies in the Handbook, and read each from the point of view of what "take away" lessons are there for your own building.

Reading these two books was a real treat. Outside my office kitchen is a deck with an 11 point system for attracting birds from bluebirds and bluejays to cardinals, gold finches, two kinds of woodpecker, and a flicker as well as the more common birds. I believe in diversity, and I believe that if we don't get our act together and start living up to the ideals of Natural Capitalism (see other recommended books below), our world will go sterile and dark before out great-grandchilden can share in the beauty of this planet. These two books are part of the solution, and I am in serious awe of those who made them available to all of us, and at reasonable prices to boot. Well done!!!

Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
The Ecology of Commerce
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future
The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons (Bk Currents)
The Philosophy of Sustainable Design

A fully comprehensive, up-to-date and well organized compendium of sustainable design and construction techniques, this book seems to keep fining its way onto my desk again and again for various projects. There are piles of publications on sustainability, this one however, is profound in its completeness, usefulness and quality of information.

I am a licensed architect and LEED AP, refocusing my professional career more toward sustainable design and this guidebook seems to be a good library reference with checklists included to break it down. It is slightly out of date with 2006 copyright, but the principles remain the same. Just the LEED ratings systems has been updated since printing. I like the Case Studies, helpful for real world application.

My grandson will graduate in architecture this year and this book was on his "must read" list.

Not worth the time it takes to read or the $$ to buy it. There is no new information here. Most of the ideas seem to have been pilfered from the USGBC LEED Reference guides. At most this book could be used for a quick reference

The most comprehensive book yet on sustainable design and green architecture. If you can have only one book in your library on sustainable design, this is the book!