Newsletter | Jul/Aug 2007


New Book on Green Architecture

by Mui Ho
I would like to call your attention to an important new and useful book by one of our former member Alison Kwok , titled The Green Studio Handbook.

I met Alison when she attended UC Berkeley's graduate program in 1987. By then she has already taught high school science for 7 years. Being a seasoned teacher, Alison knew
how to be a good student. She was gifted and an outstanding student among her peers but most importantly, she combined her science background with her architectural training. After
practicing three years in architecture, Alison went back to
UC Berkeley for a Ph.D. in Building Science-a perfect combination of technology and design.

After finishing her Ph.D. Alison taught at Cornell University
and is now a tenured professor at the University of Oregon. She co-authored the gigantic book, a bible, for architectural students titled Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings. The recent 10th edition, adds her name to this well-respected reference book.

The Green Studio Handbook: Environmental Strategies for Schematic Design (Architectural Press, Oxford, 2007) is not intended to serve as a green building checklist nor as a textbook for environmental technology, but as a guide to provide the necessary information needed to make design judgments about the appropriate use of green strategies, to validate design decisions regarding the all-to-often used
"magic arrows", and to provide a resource of ideas on how the strategies are used in place, visually.

Co-authors Alison G. Kwok, a University of Oregon Professor of Architecture and Walter T. Grondzik of Florida A&M University, a former visiting professor at the University of Oregon, collaborated on the book in its early stages through a technical teaching seminar at the University of Oregon.

The book contains 422 full-color photographs and line drawings illustrating the application of green strategies during the schematic design of buildings. the bulk of the book includes 40 environmental strategies (e.g. green roofs, shading, permeable surfaces, passive solar design), with brief descriptions of principles and concepts, step-by-step design procedures, annotated tables and charts to assist with preliminary sizing, as well as a summary of key issues to be addressed and references to additional resources. Nine case studies selected for geographic diversity and a range of building types are also included to show how it all goes together. Practitioners, students, faculty and even the lay public will find this useful to help understand implementation in schematic design.



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