Ecological Design - Hardcover

Van Der Ryn, Sim; Cowan, Stuart

3.95

140 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1559633883 ISBN 13: 9781559633888

Publisher: Island Press, 1995

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Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan present a vision of how the living world and the human world can be rejoined by taking ecology as the basis for design. Ecological design intelligence -- effective adaptation to and integration with nature's processes -- can be applied at all levels of scale, creating revolutionary forms of buildings, landscapes, cities, and technologies.The authors weave together case studies, personal anecdotes, images, and theory to provide a thorough treatment of the concept of ecological design. In the process, they present and explain a series of design principles that can help build a sustainable world with increased efficiency, fewer toxics, less pollution, and healthier natural systems.

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About the Author:

Sim Van der Ryn is President of The Ecological Design Collaborative, a design and consulting practice providing comprehensive services though the non-profit Ecological Design Institute established in 1969. He has been at the forefront of integrating ecological principles into the built environment, creating multi-scale solutions driven by nature’s intelligence for over 40 years. Sim has served as California’s first energy-conscious State Architect, authored seven influential books, including Ecological Design, and won numerous honors and awards for his leadership and innovation in architecture and planning including a Fellowship of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts (1997); Rockefeller Scholar in Residence, Bellagio, Italy (1997 and 2013); a Commendation for Excellence in Technology, California Council American Institute of Architects (1981); and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1971). He is an adjunct architecture faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley.

Review:

"Ecological Design...is not a book about things, but rather one about systems, patterns, context, integration, and ultimately about vision, which is where good design begins. To say that Ecological Design deserves a large readership in the late years of the twentieth century is a bit like saying that folks on the Titanic needed lifeboats." (David Orr Whole Earth Review)

"With vision and coherence, Van der Ryn and Cowan lay the basis for a new philosophy and practice of design. Ecological Design expands and enriches the nexus of human and natural systems." (Amory B. Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute)

"An elegant introduction to the field of ecological design. This ground-breaking book will change the way we think about buildings, agriculture, industrial processes, and our management of resources and wastes." (Alex Wilson, Editor and Publisher, "Environmental Building News")

"...Ecological Design is one of the most important design books in the past few years. It is a ground-breaking book that will change the way we think about buildings, agriculture, industrial processes, and our management of resources and wastes." (Environmental Building News)

"Visionary.... Van der Ryn and Cowan delight in showing us each detail of transforming both consciousness and substance from 'dumb design' (environmentally wasteful) to ecological design." (The San Francisco Chronicle)

"...an elegant and readable book that ought to become a required text in architecture and planning schools..." (Urban Ecologist)

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