Sun, Wind And Light: Architectural Design Strategies. - Brief Article - book review

Architectural Review, The, March, 2001 by Adam Voelcker

By G Z Brown and Mark DeKay. Chichester:

John Wiley & Sons. 200. [pound]39.50

Books about sustainability come in different shapes and sizes: some theoretical, some practical, some a pleasure to look at, some just factual. This one is an intriguing mix of all these -- full of facts, diagrams, charts, formulae -- and yet also abundant with wonderful hand-drawn illustrations and diagrams which delight and are works of love in themselves. The format of the book is influenced by Alexander's Pattern Language. There are around a hundred principles: each is simply stated. Each is expanded as necessary and illustrated by well-chosen examples world-wide, and where relevant, is cross-referenced to other principles. It's a format which works well, making it a useful manual to have by the drawing board. First published about 15 years ago, this second edition has been expanded to cover regions beyond the US, and to include units in metric. These improvements will help it reach a world-wide audience.

If such a book was written in Britain, RAIN would be included (it is not mentioned in this book). It's all very well studying sun, shade, cooling and other tropical delights, but we over here have to come to terms with increasing rainfall and making full use of it -- recycling it, controlling its abundance, harnessing its energy, and after all that, learning to enjoy it and celebrate it architecturally. As yet, we have hardly begun to explore its potential.