Low-Tech Light-Tech High-Tech - Softcover

Klaus Daniels

9783764363291: Low-Tech Light-Tech High-Tech

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3764363290 ISBN 13: 9783764363291

Publisher: Birkh�user, 2000

This book looks at the challenges facing architects and urban planners in contemporary society. It analyses current trends, future scenarios and solutions from the past, providing detailed information on what it means to build in a sustainable, ecologically sound way, whilst making full use of the technology which we now have at our fingertips. Previously available as a hardcover but now out of print, it is being reprinted as a special softcover edition.

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About the Author:

Klaus Daniels is the chairman of the managing board of HL-Technik AG. Since 1990 he has been professor of building services at the ETH Zurich, departments of architecture and of civil engineering.

Review:

This book deals with environmental technology applied to buildings, with issues covered worldwide and over a wide timespan.

Predictions are related to improvements in productivity of using resources. If efficiency is not improved by 5 per cent per annum the population will peak at around 10 billion. Current demographic analysis assumes a stable world population of about 12.5 billion, provided industrialization spreads globally. The implication of 12.5 billion people using fossil fuels at the same rate as the billion people now living in developed countries is not discussed. The imperative to reduce consumption of fossil fuels is implied but not spelt out. There are also anomalies in the presentation of data: the worldwide consumption of metals excludes iron and steel altogether, and aluminum is given in kg per capita but other metals in tons per annum.

A variety of buildings is analyzed, from vernacular to modern. As examples are chosen to illustrate spurious environmental points, there is little critical evaluation suggesting mistakes to be avoided. The architects use glass to try to turn bad energy into good, rather as alchemists attempted to turn base metal into gold using the philosopher's stone. -- The Architectural Review

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