Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture [Hardcover]

Kiel Moe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2010

In the architecture profession's ongoing quest for sustainability, it is often the most fundamental practices that require rethinking. Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture, the groundbreaking new study by 2009 Rome Prize-winning architect Kiel Moe, argues that water, with its higher density, is far better at capturing and channeling energy than air. By separating the heating and cooling of a building from its ventilation, the building's structure itself becomes the primary thermal system. This transformation of energy and building practices triggers a cascading set of possibilities for a building's health, structure, and durability. The first and only book of its kind, Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture details ten contemporary case studies, from some of today's most innovative architects.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The quality of this book is equal to any higher education text book on architecture, structural design, interior design and HVAC engineering with outstanding easy to understand graphics. We especially appreciate the inclusion of design details from numerous TABS projects from around the world. A must have for the student or design professional." --Journal of Indoor Environmental Quality, April 19, 2010

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (March 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156898880X
• ISBN-13: 978-1568988801
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kiel Moe is a registered architect and Assistant Professor of Architectural Technology in the Department of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He was awarded the 2009-10 Gorham P. Stevens Rome Prize in Architecture and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. He recently received the 2011 Architecture League of New York Prize and the 2011 AIA Young Architects Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important and pathbreaking book, August 5, 2010

By 

Robert H. Knapp "physics and sustainable design" (Olympia, Washington, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture (Hardcover)

This is an important book. which opens a path for some major rethinking of energy and comfort in buildings, and for significant new architecture. And it does so with striking visual presentation and telling metaphors. The standard paradigm for thermal comfort in a building--heating, cooling and circulating air--has been largely unquestioned for two generations or more. Kiel Moe shows the potential for a strikingly different approach, thermally active surfaces, based on recent pathbreaking European engineering (but also on neglected practices from ancient Rome and Korea). The book does an excellent job of bringing forward finished European and North American buildings which embody this approach, together with imaginative comparative diagrams which show their departures from mid-Twentieth Century practices but also their alignment with good older industrial-era buildings. Building this way may allow major steps forward in saving energy and using sustainable materials. The book also does quite a reasonable job of translating engineering technicalities into lay terms. Some will resist its message, because it asks practitioners and rule-of-thumb people to take a great deal of new thinking on board. But Moe has brought together the technical aspects, the core metaphors, and the actually built examples of the new approach in a way that is inspiring. The substance is here, as well as the excitement, and the book deserves close attention.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars College-level architecture students must have this specific, in-depth reference!, November 13, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture (Hardcover)

Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture offers ten modern case studies, including projects around the world by major world architects, and discusses sustainability in building. Based on a groundbreaking new study by 2009 Rome Prize-winning architect Kiel Moe, it argues that water is far better at channeling energy - and that heating and cooling systems separated from ventilation lend to the entire structure becoming the primary thermal system. College-level architecture students must have this specific, in-depth reference!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what the architecture profession needs to hear, October 7, 2010

By 

LB "LB" (Somerville, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture (Hardcover)

Moe inspires architects to think laterally and not blindly follow current technological practices that drain buildings of energy and spatial richness. An excellent (and I think, required) read for architects and architecture students.