Customer Reviews

Sustainable School Architecture: Design for Elementary and Secondary Schools

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"Sustainable School Architecture: Design for Elementary and Secondary Schools" is an important book. An important book for not just architects of schools, but for all architects and those interested in the sustainable issues our country is now confronting.

Author Lisa Gelfand uses a holistic approach to describe the different ways to make greener, more efficient, and, in the end, better environments for learning. Every sustainable element is thoroughly described and backed up with numerous examples. More often than not, the solutions offered in this book are not overly complex or "Swiss-watchy", but are often practical, thrifty, and easy to implement. This is an especially salient when working with a client who is afraid that a sustainable architecture will make their building not affordable.

In my professional experience, there exists a pandemonium of a buzzwords in the design business, "green" and "sustainable" are frequently used but not accurately followed through into reality. Lisa Gelfand has made real a thoughtful and well-researched approach to sustainable school design. She is truly a leader in her field.

I've been interested in sustainable architecture specifically focused on schools for some time but did not, until now, come across a book that covered this topic. This book is superb - it is filled with actual schools, specific examples, that exemplify all the ideas that the authors describe in the text. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in finding out more about how the issue of sustainability can drive the future of school architecture and, in turn, the learning environment that such architecture fosters.

Great book. Documents schools from around the world. Some interesting ideas that would probably benefit anyone working in school design.