Sunday

Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide

Sustainable Design

A Critical Guide

David Bergman

7" x 8.5" / 144 pages / 175 color
$24.95 / paperback

The fact that we live in a closed system with limited and dwindling resources is something many of us prefer, or choose, not to think about. But this concept of finite planet should be seen as an opportunity for designers to implement impactful, forward-thinking, and broad-reaching change. In this spirit of “eco-optimism,” Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide navigates the array of issues related to sustainability in clear and helpful terms.

Written for students and professionals, this books presents a concise and well-illustrated overview of the most important techniques available for reducing energy footprints, along with the professional context for their use. In addition to tackling the discipline’s ethical responsibility, each chapter takes on specific considerations such as rainwater harvesting, gray-water recycling, passive heating techniques, green roofs, wind energy, daylighting, indoor air quality, material evaluation, and green building certification programs. Founded in the three Rs of environmentalism—reduce, reuse, and recycle—Sustainable Design encompasses a critical fourth: rethink.

Chapters:
1. Ecodesign: What and Why
2. Site Issues
3. Water Efficiency
4. Energy Efficiency: Passive Techniques
5. Energy Efficiency: Active Techniques
6. Indoor Environmental Quality
7. Materials
8. Labels and Ratings: Measuring Ecodesign
9. The Future of Sustainable Design

About the author:
David Bergman is a LEED-accredited, New York City-based architect specializing in sustainable design. He teaches at Parsons The New School for Design.

Posted via email from The Green Blog Network

Wednesday

Cocobohème = craftiness, whim, aesthetics

Many proponents of green design put the emphasis on the "design" side of the equation. The thinking goes that IF green is going to be a revolution, it must first seduce the consumer by its design. We will buy something not just because it's good for us, but because we would choose it over another model whether the product were eco or not.

Cocobohème embodies this philosophy. It is a "soft mixture of craftiness, whim, aesthetics," and it is 100% French. Granted there has been an explosion of eco-friendly consumer products in recent years on the market, but it is nonetheless a challenge to find design concepts that are fresh and purely original.

Partners, Catherine Fouchard, art director, and Christian Mégevand, scenographer began their company in 2003. They like to describe their designs as "poetry with a practical side," and they've dosed up on ethics and making a signature out of using sustainable materials.

Their original creations of potato-starch based biopolymer chalkboard stickers and baby bibs were the first of their kind when they brought them onto the market. They've since launched with brown cardboard constructed stools shaped as pods, light-reflecting stickers that afix to clothing and bicycle helmets...and glow in the dark. They also offer a line of no glue, self-adhesive window stickers that allow in light while providing decorative themes on the windowpanes.

Their dining table ware is equal whimsy with birch-based wooden platters embossed with a white-lace doily and an egg cup that neatly cradles a perfectly hardboiled egg. And their light-weight birch salad bowl with matching salad tossers embossed with a black stencil design is chic, light, and comes with some assembly required!

Unique, chic holiday gifts...Cocobohème. [They make Wonderful Eco Friendly Soaps Too!]

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