A Shelter Sketchbook: Natural Building Solutions [Paperback]

John S. Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

This book reminds us that most of what we need to know is simply what we've already forgotten. John Taylor's trained eye and skilled hand celebrate details of:
-- Thousand-year-old earth-sheltered houses in China
-- Passive solar heating designs of the Pueblo Indians
-- Natural air conditioning systems built in the Middle East.
-- Modular building techniques used in Japan 500 years ago

This is a book for builders, students, and anyone seeking stimulation for the imagination. Author and architect John Taylor's exacting eye, intricate sketches, and hand-written notes are gentle reminders that observation, even more than technology, is the best source of innovation.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In a new take on sustainable living and building, John Taylor presents a stunning array of traditional building techniques and housing solutions from around the world and from history. Most are motivated by available materials, economic necessity, and local climate and terrain. In this time of growing interest in earth-friendly building techniques, Taylor shows us that we need to relearn many practical aspects of constructing shelter and must blend the technologies of the present with the traditions of the past, with those of other cultures, and even with those of our own grandparents. Taylor, an architectural designer, has filled this delightful book with remarkable drawings and sketches of building techniques gleaned from his travels; it is a feast for the eyes as well as the brain.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890132020
• ISBN-13: 978-1890132026
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,068,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Shelter Sketchbook, April 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Shelter Sketchbook: Natural Building Solutions (Paperback)

I came across this book while assembling reference material for planning a treehouse at the cottage. While most of the books I was looking at were hands-on/how-to type, I found this book interesting, and there are a few ideas in the book I can definitely use. At first glance, the book has, as the title implies, just a bunch of sketches - each page has four or five architectual details and hand-written notes explaining or referencing the drawing. Despite the rough-draft appearance, though, there is a lot of organizing of the 600+ drawings, and they obviously draw on a wealth of structure details. Examples range from villas in ancient Greece, Japanese houses, African huts, Aztec dwellings, to the current UNESCO headquarters in Paris and modern Frank Lloyd Wright homes. The book is arranged in three sections: protection (from sun, wind, cold, water); accomodating human needs (sleeping, cooking, eating, sitting, etc.); and structural elements themselves (roofs, doors, windows). Each section draws on examples from all parts of the world, and much of history, to show how, in many cases, simple solutions from 'simple' people, and even animals, solve basic living problems, and I found it quite interesting how different cultures at different times came up with similar solutions to such things as drainage, ventilation, etc. I found the ideas in this book useful for my treehouse project because I wanted simple construction, low cost, and flexibility, and the concepts in the book, being drawn as they were from basic construction principles, quite practical. This book would likely be of interest to several groups of readers: those studying architecture (there is an extensive bibliography), those building or designing energy-efficient homes (it is somewhat humbling to see so many concepts that we may think are new and radical, that natives somewhere have been doing for centuries!), or just for general interest (the book explains such things as roof angles on saltbox houses, cupolas, etc.)

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites, January 10, 2007

By 

nobreakspace (washington, dc) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Shelter Sketchbook: Natural Building Solutions (Paperback)

If I had to start my architecture library all over again, I'd start with this book. The Designer's Eye is also a very good, inspired refence book.

4.0 out of 5 stars A little bit of every other book., February 17, 2003

By 

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

This review is from: A Shelter Sketchbook: Natural Building Solutions (Paperback)

This book seems to have sketches of just about everything to do with Shelter. I have seen most of these pictures in full colour
at one time or another after having read lots of other books on architecture, but it is quite nice to have them all sorted out in
one book, each with a short description.