Sustainable: Houses with Small Footprints

This large hardcover volume by Avi Friedman is packed with information and features full-colour photos and illustrations on each of its more than 300 awe-inspiring pages. The book is divided into 12 sections, each addressing a design element or a materials issue that defines sustainable dwellings. The first section, Verncular Design, design that is "spontaneous, indigenous, rural, primative and anonymous," is presented. Vernacular design is also proposed as a strategic solution to the "costly, inconvenient, and worst of all, environmentally damaging" housing design of the past. Friedman also comments that vernacular design encorporates modern technological elements, but cites clay, earth and low-technology features as well. These beautiful homes with small footprints adorn the book in various stages of construction and are accompanied by architectural cut-aways to help the reader envision the process. Examples of various homes of this sort, including floor design, are then presented in a case-by-case basis, until the resders mind is saturated with ideas and possibilties. Chapter 5, titled Raised Dwellings, is a chapter dedicated to houses placed up above the ground, and the benefits of this type of design element, showing examples in many places throughout the world of a successful implementation of this technique. Chapter 9, Indoor Farming, includes the use of earth overlay as insulation, creating a passive refrigerator as an example of the flexible coolong effect of this technique.

The book also showcases Maison Productive House or MPH in Montreal Canada as an exciting example of an urban design with sustainability features. These include the integration of permaculture agricultural systems. "On the roof, a greenhouse produces various fruits and vegetables, supplying food year-round and helping ensure local food security." MPH also has carbon offsetting plants on the outside to mitigate air pollution, and features "a communial living style, a community of self-sufficient residents." Each unit in MPH also has a private garden, and access to a fruit orchard is avaiable to all residents in the units. Rainwater entrapment is employed at MPH, as is grey water filtration, and there is a compost system in the building that minimizes food waste and cycles it back into the gsrden. The building has self-shading windows and has eliminated the need for air-con, a massive issue in big cities. Passive solar heating is used to the utmost effect at MPH, as are solar panals on the rooftop, which supply almost all the energy needs of the complex. Chapter ten, water harvesting and recycling, addreses sustainabilty issues around water overuse globally. It then demonstrates the alternative, that of sublime conservation, through a series of beautifully-photographed houses that have brilliant water-sustainability methods built in to their foundations and throughout their construction. These include include rainwater collection and grey water recycling. An interesting example in this chapter is the RainShine House in Decatur, Georgia, which has a butterfly-shaped roof that collects rain water in the centre, channeling it down the middle of the house to serve within. In conclusion, I am so grateful Avi Friedman embarked on this massive effort it must have taken a lot of coordinating to compose this beautiful book. it is loaded with information and great ideas, and without the author openly stating this goal, reading this book entirely challenges anyone who thinks beauty and sustainability do not go hand-in-hand. i highly reccomend this read. The "browsabilty factor" of this book as a coffee-table presence makes it a book to enjoy in one's home while the ideas springing from it remodel your dwelling space around you.

Friedman, A. (2015). Sustainable: Houses with small footprints. Rizzoli.