Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design [Hardcover]

Nora Burba Trulsson (Author), Suzi Moore McGregor (Author), Terrence Moore (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

For those who want a beautiful home that also reflects an environmentally conscious lifestyle, the 22 residences featured in Living Homes prove that it's possible to have the best of both worlds. In this lushly photo-graphed book, authors Suzi Moore McGregor and Nora Burba Trulsson take readers on a visual tour of stunning earthen homes. They explore a rammed earth neighborhood, a two-story Victorian-style straw bale house, and a recycled concrete coastal retreat, among other alternative living spaces. Meet the architects and owners, read their stories, learn what inspired them, and explore their beautiful gardens and dcor. Terrence Moore's striking photographs capture the exquisite interiors and exteriors and showcase the picturesque landscapes that create such magnificent backdrops. With profiles of adobe, rammed earth, straw bale, and reinvented materials in both their historical and contemporary applications, Living Homes is a visual inspiration and vital guide to sustainable architecture and alternative materials.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

McGregor (Under the Sun) and Trulsson, a freelance writer and contributor to Phoenix magazine, open this study of sustainable architecture with brief essays on natural design and appropriate technology. With photographer Moore (The Desert Southwest), they then visit 22 custom-designed homes in Colorado, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Based on the careful siting and local sourcing of materials, these stylish examples of sustainable architecture are here grouped and introduced by material: adobe, rammed earth, straw bale, and recycled. The glossy presentation recalls popular magazine articles; lush color photographs have parity with the text, while a few architectural drawings appear as graphic decoration. If this book is any evidence, sustainable building has become a viable industry in the Western United States. The emphasis is not on building a unique, sustainable home but on commissioning one, and an extensive resource list allows readers to locate designers, builders, and specialized suppliers. For regional public libraries. David R. Conn, Surrey P.L., BC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This beautifully illustrated coffee-table-style volume serves as an introduction and resource guide for people interested in building residences using environmentally sound materials. The book is arranged by building type and includes adobe, rammed earth, straw bale, and "reinvented, recycled, and high-tech materials." Photographs of custom-designed homes in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Texas and California that were built using these materials provide both illustration and inspiration.-Southwest Books of the Year

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811824691
• ISBN-13: 978-0811824699
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #777,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, but lacking, May 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design (Hardcover)

I received this much-anticipated book today. True to description, it contains beautiful photos (one page was misprinted with a wide pink streak across the photo) and text from architects, owners, etc. What it doesn't have much of is anything more than brief or shallow explanations of HOW sustainable living takes place -- minimal floor plans (meaning only for a few of the homes reviewed.

For one clear example, Lake/Flato architects built a truly innovative vacation house, with the living area surrounded - wrapped really - in the bedrooms and bathrooms of the house. Only a floor plan can reveal their creative arrangement of the rooms. The house is featured in this book, but no indication of the remarkable new layout - maximum living in minimal space. (Look for the Contemporary Architecture series for Lake/Flato architects for more information.)

Broad but shallow is a good summary for this pretty, but not nearly as informative as I had hoped, book.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living Homes shows "Architecture", September 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design (Hardcover)

Finally! A book on sustainable architecture that shows quality buildings designed by Architects. All too often, these books show buildings that are not well designed, and detailed, and the quality of construction is lacking. I was very pleased to see well known architects, as well as lesser known architects' work detailed in this beautiful book. This book is wonderful to look at and it also has excellent, well written descriptions of each project.
It's a great read, and it is now in my personal library. I also bought one for the office.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good intro., March 28, 2004

By 

Scott Knudsen (Air Ronge, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design (Hardcover)

This book offers a good introduction into building with earth, straw and recycled materials. There are lots of nice photos with a brief story telling how and why the builders used the chosen materials.

This book does not go into depth on how to make a home out of straw bale, adobe, rammed earth or any other techniques. There are lots of other good books that do though.

I am kind of disappointed in a couple of the things the author says that are a bit misleading or untrue, probably unintentionally, but non the less they are there and you will not pick them out unless you are well read on alternative building techniques.