Focusing on sustainable urban design, this book explores essential principles that blend architecture with natural features and public spaces. It emphasizes the transition to active mobility, highlighting the importance of prioritizing citizen well-being in urban planning. Readers will gain insights into creating vibrant, functional cities that foster community and sustainability.
Contemporary design concepts are explored through innovative ideas and practices, illustrated with plans and photographs of exemplary projects. The book addresses the challenges faced by current planning and design modes of dwellings and neighborhoods, emphasizing the inadequacy of past approaches to meet new environmental, economic, and social demands. It advocates for a fresh perspective to navigate these fundamental changes in the field.
Focusing on technology-centered urban planning, this book examines seven key axes that illustrate the role of data and technology in shaping modern cities. Each chapter combines narrative, illustrations, and case studies to analyze aspects such as infrastructure, mobility, energy distribution, and public health. It highlights the impact of these technological practices on urban environments and their connections to the four pillars of sustainability: environment, society, economy, and culture, offering insights into potential improvements for future urban planning.
Focusing on innovative and sustainable neighborhood design, this book presents key principles essential for residential planning. It serves as a valuable resource for students and professionals in urban design, planning, and architecture, particularly those engaged in sustainable residential development.
New challenges on a global scale have forced a rethinking about the way homes and communities are designed. Future Homes provides an engaging and in-depth analysis of possible solutions.
Space-saving, eco-friendly, and cost-efficient, the most innovative pre-fabricated homes around the world—from cabins to containers. Efficient and inexpensive to produce, pre-fabricated homes are an ideal solution to the financial and environmental costs facing the modern homeowner. Their extremely versatile format also makes them adaptable to all kinds of locations, be it a secluded off-the-grid setting or a dense urban area. This survey of the world’s most innovative pre-fab houses explores the full range of possibilities, suitable for anyone interested in clever and creative home-building solutions—no architectural degree required. From carbon-neutral houses to plug-and-play dwellings and converted shipping containers, each chapter explores the varied and exciting ways that people are using pre-fabricated technology to address contemporary challenges. Richly illustrated with photographs and drawings, featuring projects selected by a longtime expert in pre-fab architecture, Pre-Fab Living presents factory-made houses in a new light. Whether designing on a tight budget, crafting something self-sustaining, or simply looking for new spatial ideas, architects, designers, and home builders alike will find it to be an essential source of inspiration.
Addressing contemporary societal transformations, the book explores challenges like resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, an aging population, and climate change. Through thirty chapters, it provides urban designers, architects, and planners with innovative solutions and foundational principles for sustainable urban design. Each chapter is richly illustrated and includes international case studies that showcase practical design implementations, making the text a comprehensive resource for those in the field of urban development.
Focusing on smaller urban communities, this book addresses the unique challenges faced by towns with fewer than 50,000 residents. It explores urban renewal through various lenses, including environmental issues, demographic shifts, and economic changes. The text outlines principles for enhancing city centers, covering topics like urban form, mobility, and community well-being. Detailed case studies illustrate effective strategies for revitalization, emphasizing the importance of infill neighborhood design and the promotion of local culture.
New Directions in Sustainable Design
Current apartment building design faces challenges in philosophy and form, necessitating innovative thinking due to evolving environmental, economic, cultural, and social demands. Environmental issues, such as the depletion of non-renewable resources and climate change, compel designers to adopt new approaches that enhance compatibility between buildings and their surroundings. Contemporary strategies like minimizing carbon footprints, passive solar gain, net-zero structures, and water harvesting are increasingly integrated into design processes. Economic challenges, including rising costs of materials, labor, land, and infrastructure, highlight the need for affordable housing solutions, leading to concepts like adaptable dwellings and smaller yet well-designed homes. Social considerations are also significant, particularly as the aging baby-boom generation prioritizes housing for the elderly. Concepts such as walkable communities, aging in place, live-work residences, and multigenerational living are explored. The book provides insights into contemporary design concepts, supported by plans and photographs of exemplary international projects. Avi Friedman, an expert in housing innovation, holds degrees from the Israel Institute of Technology, McGill University, and the University of Montréal. He co-founded the Affordable Homes Program at McGill and has received multiple awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from Sus
Innovative Student Residences explores the evolving challenges in the design of student accommodations, addressing philosophical and structural limitations of traditional approaches. The book emphasizes the necessity for fresh perspectives driven by significant environmental, economic, and social changes. It presents contemporary design concepts through engaging examples, complemented by vivid full-color photography and detailed architectural plans, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of modern residential solutions for students.