Book Description
Natural swimming pools rely on the correct balance of plants and microorganisms to clean and purify the water. They are a safe place for children to play and birds to drink, and are a dramatic example of ecological design, combining the natural and man-made worlds while creating beauty. These pools offer enjoyment not only in the warm months, but during winter, too, when they can be used for ice skating and other activities. Often the focal point of a garden, natural swimming pools blend into their environments, flowing into the surroundings with plants and rocks.They reflect the changing seasons and they enhance the environment naturally. They are easy and less costly to maintain than chemical pools, providing significant savings in water. Chlorine and other common pool chemicals are hazardous to human health and are not used. This book is a necessary resource for anyone interested in having a natural swimming pool and shows how a natural swimming pool system works, as well as the environmental, health, and safety benefits it offers. Drawings, diagrams, and charts cover planning, design, biology, materials, construction, planting, and maintenance. Over 300 beautiful color pictures feature projects that will inspire you to have your own natural water garden where you can swim in harmony with nature at any time.
Customer Reviews:
Perfect book.......2007-09-04
Great book for all aspects of creating a variety of green/natural pools. Beautiful pictures and good illustrations and copy to help in decision making.
YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK .......2007-08-22
Simply put this book is a MUST READ for anyone intersted in any aspect of Sustainable and Ecological Design. It should be read right along with Permaculture by Mollison, the Passive Solar Handbook by Mazria, Rainwater Harvesting by Lancaster, and ecocities to Living Machines by Todd. Even if you aren't specifically interested in making a swimming pool (which you will be after reading it) the insights into the workings of hydro-ecologies and how to design natural systems are invaluable!
If you aren't interested in the whole range of sustainability but just this particular topic of pool design then this book is STILL A MUST READ. If you're an ecologist who wants to make a pool, or a pool designer who wants to do something ecological this book provides an excellent layman's understanding of ecological design, with good technical and artistic advice for how to do it, and good technical and artistic advice for swimming pool construction.
I would still advise you to also purchase the book Poolscaping as a companion to this one.
This is an all around excellent book buy it now.
Beautiful photos; strange text.......2007-08-01
Thumbing through the book will make you want to move to Austria or Germany where beautiful "natural" pools are somehat established. Why is the U. S. so environmentally backward? Unfortunately, the text is awkwardly translated at times such that one has to struggle to figure out what is meant with limited success.The assumption is that one is swimming only in the summer, but in California we may want to swim year round. Useful especially since so little information is available. Can't understand why the publisher didn't insist on professional proofreading.Buy it for inspiration, or wait for the next edition, or wait for one more applicable to your area. It does provide info in the back about two U.S resources, one in CA.
Very complete book .......2007-02-24
Is the book i need for learning on natural swimming pool. Now i can make my own pool
Surprisingly COMPREHENSIVE!.......2007-02-09
This large sized book covered the subject exceedingly well in lots of color photos with explanations and, more importantly, in lots of diagrams and nuts and bolts descriptions. I only read sections here and there but what I did read clearly indicated to me that you could actually use this book to build a natural swimming pool. At the least, you could definitely make a solid decision whether or not you could build or would want to build such a pool on your property. These pools are basically like salt water aquariums in that you have to make a biosphere and monitor it. In some ways it's not as easy as it sounds but also not as hard as it sounds. However, start up takes time and it can be tricky to finally reach environmental stabilization. I am not going to build a natural pool but I still found this book very useful. At the end this book are MANY pages of water plants and trees recommended for certain types of water areas. There are zone maps of the US included for reference. So even if you just want to make a little ornamental fountain in a big pot on the patio deck or a pond or a bog out back, this book has a VERY comprehensive set of plant lists you will find exceedingly useful. 18 pages of them. Categories include Submerged Plants, Floating Plants, Floating Leaved Plants, Shallow Marginal Plants, Deep Marginal Plants, Moisture-loving Plants, Bog/Marsh Plants, Waterside Plats-Trees & Shrubs, Ferns, Grasses Sedges Reeds and Rushes. Botanical and Common Names are listed along with height, spread, water depth, flower color, flower period, foliage, position, comments and plant zone. It's the best I've seen in any book so far.
Book Description
An updated bestseller, this book of extraordinarily beautiful photographs of nature contains state-of-the-art instruction on how any photographer can aim for equally impressive results every time a camera is focused on the great outdoors. Even highly skilled photographers are often baffled by the problems facing them when they work outdoors. But with this exceptional field guide in hand, every photographer-beginner, serious amateur, semi-pro, and pro-can conquer the problems encountered in the field. Using his own exceptional work as examples, the author discusses each type of nature subject and how to approach photographing it. Specific advice and information cover selection of equipment and lenses; how to compose a shot; how to get close ups; and other tips covering a range of techniques to enrich various types of nature photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Great content and easy to read. .......2007-08-29
I bought three photo books at the same time. This one was great for understanding the basics again but more in depth. Everything about his discussion on exposure relates to being outside and shooting outside.
This book is a good book to teach from if needed. I found myself highlighting many many statements and excited about reading the next chapter. I will be re-reading this book.
I would have liked to see more on blinds, building them, and stalking techniques. However, the first part of this book is very very good. I was thinking this was all about field techniques for getting close to the subject but there is little about that. However the content about stalking, etc., is very good. Now that I read the book, I see how this is a field guild. Learning how to have correct exposure in the field and get the shot you was wanting.
I really enjoyed the tone of the book. It is low key and easy to follow. Each time there is a term that may be unfamiliar he would define it and use an example. Easy to see John is a good teacher.
This is not an "all in one" book but close. However that is not the aim of the book. This one with another good basics book and I would say someone just starting out could really start taking wonderful pictures that make a mark.
-Jeff
[...]
Ease of Use.......2007-05-07
When you see a terrific photo, it screams "great" at you. For those of us who love great photos but have a difficult time with all the numbers, combinations, and what changes to make on the fly, this book was a breath of fresh air. Shaw tells you in plain English what makes a photo good while bouncing along in a Land Rover in the wilds of Africa or comfortably entrenched behind a tree with your telephoto lens trained on a native village in rural Mexico. He writes simply, with lovely concision. The two of you could be sitting in your living room chatting photography. I love that approach! Because the book is fairly heavy and wouldn't fit in my camera bag, I copied the needed chapters and stuffed them in. Perfect!
Simply the best.......2007-05-07
After reading several other books on nature photography, most were good, but this one is without reservation, the very best. Although written for film, most of the book is still valuable for digital photography. I was hooked on the book by the chapter on exposure. His treatment of the subject is clear and simply rang true. It has heped me to think of exposure in ways that have improved my photography significantly.
The book covers a wide range of topics and does so consistently and clearly.
Detailed Photos and Attention Grabbing Techniques........2007-02-28
Let me just thank [...]
Now to the book. I made a cursory reading of Nature Photography Field Guide and I can already tell that I did not make a mistake ordering it. It is like a course in photography itself on first glance with specialization in nature and outdoor photography. All the main stuff that I wanted to know are there: exposure, what type of lenses to use, equipment and film, composition, etc.
I especially like the fact that tricky lighting situations and exposure are addressed and techniques recommended. This is the chapter that grabs my attention at the moment, as this is my weakness: how to compensate exposure manually based on scene lighting. I will try out Shaw's suggestions as soon as I can. His photos are breathtaking and detailed with camera, lenses and accessories used.
I shall be updating this review once I made thorough reading of it. Meanwhile, thanks again Amazon for the speedy delivery of my copy of Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide and Immortal Beloved DVD!
must book for Nature Photography .......2007-01-07
I am an armature photographer, which studied photography for one academic year in Camera Obscura (one of Israel's leading photography schools). Reading the book was equal to a second year. The book covers basic photography concepts and technique (DOF, lenses ect.)as well as a very practical what you need to know and get in order to start working in the field. I must say that a great deal of my equipment was bought and upgraded based on the recommendations of John Shaw. One of the import issues the book deals with (including some very good examples) is horizontal vs. vertical positioning of the camera and the issue of cropping effect on how the image "feels".
Any new photographer that wants to start nature photography should read this book, whether he uses a DSLR or a point and shot. I go further and recommend it to any one planning a nature vacation, so when he shows his pictures to family and friends it will amaze them instead of bored them.
Great and practical book.
Book Description
Introducing a revolutionary new approach to detail design in landscape architecture
In this groundbreaking book, Niall Kirkwood of the Harvard Graduate School of Design takes a fresh,holistic approach to the theories, approaches, and practices of landscape detail. With the support of a wealth of graphic and written material taken from historic and contemporary landscape designwork, he clearly demonstrates the role that landscape detail plays in the design process. Going beyond theoretical considerations, Professor Kirkwood outlines landscape detail as a primary design activity, both pragmatic and poetic, using a range of built landscape design examples.
A valuable resource for professionals and students in landscape architecture, architecture, urban design, and environmental design, The Art of Landscape Detail:
* Provides a practical introduction to the aesthetic concerns, form, language, and expression of landscape detail
* Explores a wide range of detail issues-including materials, climate, durability, implementation, and failure-and their influence on the overall detail design process
* Examines detail design processes and research approaches that designers can apply in the analysis and development of their own work
* Contains in-depth case studies of eight award-winning landscape architecture design projects, including provocative discussions with the designers on the establishment and evolution of their detail design philosophy
* Features more than 150 images illustrating forms and site detail from national and international built landscapes
Customer Reviews:
LAM REVIEW.......2001-02-17
"The lexicon of landscape architectural design literature has a wonderful new addition in The Art of Landscape Detail.......with this book, the critical literature of the field has taken another solid step forward" Deborah Dalton, ASLA Landscape Architecture Magazine, February 2000
Average customer rating:
- Useful and interesting - STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
- Superlative! A must have!
- A secret weapon for the energy auditor
- Everything you always wanted to know, in plain English
- Provides practical advice for avoiding pitfalls
|
Energy Efficiency Manual: for everyone who uses energy, pays for utilities, designs and builds, is interested in energy conservation and the environment (Energy Efficiency Manual)
Donald R. Wulfinghoff
Manufacturer: Energy Institute Press
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Handbook of Energy Audits: Sixth Edition
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Energy Management Handbook, Sixth Edition
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Optimizing Energy Efficiencies in Industry
ASIN: 0965792676 |
Book Description
This is the primary reference, how-to guide, and sourcebook for energy conservation. It lets you improve efficiency and save money in all types of buildings and plants, ranging from individual houses to commercial buildings to large institutions and industrial plants. It is organized around 400 logically grouped energy conservation actions, presented in language that everyone understands.
It's for everyone who uses energy, pays for utilities, manages property, operates energy systems, designs, builds, and values conservation and the environment. It's loaded with features that help you quickly find the right information for each application. "Ratings" and "Selection Scorecards" identify your best conservation opportunities. "Traps & Tricks" ensure success. "Economics" estimate savings and costs. It has been acclaimed by professional and non-technical users. Publishers Weekly says it "answers just about any question [from] homeowner, plant manager, energy policy guru ... as practically useful as it is informative." 830 photographs and drawings illustrate the methods. Hundreds of examples give you a feel for real applications. A complete index makes it easy to find every topic and term.
Customer Reviews:
Useful and interesting - STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.......2005-02-08
Despite the intimidating name and size of this tome, I found it fascinating to read. It covers everything from light bulb selection to rooftop chiller maintenance. The depth and breath of coverage is amazing.
This is not a hippie guide to backwoods eco-conservation. It is a practical manual, firmly grounded in science and economics that explains different strategies for maximizing comfort while minimizing energy use. In every case, the author examines both the pros and cons of the measure, and calculates the expected payback term. It is so helpful to have a book that is realistic in its treatment of energy conservation. Lots of books outline promising energy saving techniques, none I've read before talk so frankly about the problems you will encounter when you implement them.
Quite technical in many places, the text excels at explaining important concepts that are often ignored in other texts. I have a background in physics, but not until reading this book did I have a good grasp of the operation of absorption coolers or how the spectrum of a light bulb affects the visual comfort of the scene it illuminates. The concise overview of heat transfer mechanisms is more thorough than any thermodynamics textbook I've ever read.
Most important of all is the practical advice that is clearly based on a huge body of real experience. As the book so frequently points out, energy saving measures are useless if they break or are defeated by building occupants. Hundreds of (non-obvious) examples of these failures are given, with pictures.
This book would be great for anyone with responsibility for designing or maintaining buildings of any size. If you are hesitant to pay the high price, find it at a local library. I don't write many Amazon reviews, but after reading this book I felt compelled to strongly recommend it.
Superlative! A must have!.......2003-12-08
Superlative! The ENERGY EFFICIENCY MANUAL by Donald Wulfinghoff is a "must have" for professionals, libraries, facility managers, policy makers, homeowners, and anyone else who is serious about saving energy and cashing in on lower energy bills. It is the ultimate energy saving resource for businesses, industry, and government. PLUS, it will save money and reduce pollution, satisfying corporate bottom lines, policy makers, and environmentalists all at the same time. This book is unique. Highly informative, illustration-rich, and user-friendly, it is treasure trove of everything you need to know about energy efficiency from A to Z. Don't bother looking elsewhere -- the ENERGY EFFICIENCY MANUAL simply has it all. This book will pay for itself almost as fast as you can spot a hot air leak or install an energy-efficient light bulb!
-- Amy Vickers
A secret weapon for the energy auditor.......2003-07-01
As an energy auditor I'd almost call the Energy Efficiency Manual a secret weapon, except it has so many good ideas that I can't help but show it to many of the customers and prospective customers I meet. The diagrams are very useful, as is the self contained but well cross-referenced way in which each improvement measure has been written. For example, talking to the maintenance manager of a hospital, we looked at the diagrams of hot/cold deck multi-zone systems while discussing the pros and cons of upgrading a constant volume air conditioning system to a variable volume system. It is by far the most useful book on energy management that I have ever read (well, in the case of the Energy Efficiency Manual, that I have partially read - its an enormously large book!), and the ratings of each of the measures are particularly useful, along with the practical, no-nonsense approach. The book is extremely well cross referenced and Wulfinghoff has covered an enormous body of knowledge in writing the book. As someone fairly new to the field I'm grateful that he went to the effort of documenting and making available his knowledge and 30 odd years experience in the Energy Efficiency Manual.
Everything you always wanted to know, in plain English.......2001-04-25
I nodded my head in agreement while reading Wulfinghoff's philosophy about energy savings in commercial and light industrial facilities. He distills 20+ years of experience in this field with practical, no-nonsense how-tos to gain energy and dollar savings in a wide variety of facilities and end-uses: lighting, water use, steam systems, space heating, water heating, air conditioning, scheduling, pumps, energy management controls: its all here in a well-written, well-illustrated book.
Perhaps best of all, the author goes beyond theoretical considerations of high-tech efficiency products, with precautions of what works and what might fall short. He also reminds facility managers to be mindful of the human factors that can foil our best efforts. He offers suggestions on how to plan and manage efficiency upgrades complete with information for building operators and occupants, so that the savings persist.
Highly recommended for anyone managing energy use in facilities, ranging from individual buildings to college campuses to government facilities. [I am a local government energy manager myself.]
Provides practical advice for avoiding pitfalls.......2001-02-04
Donald Wulfinghoff's Energy Efficiency Manual is a massive, 1,536-page reference work that is organized to guide the reader quickly to the right information for their particular energy project, problem, or inquiry. The first part of this "user friend" manual has 400 logically grouped activities for improving energy efficiency. each activity begins with Ratings and a Selection Scorecard to help the reader judge the merits and difficulties of that particular activity. "Economics" sidebars estimates the savings, cost, and payback period. The "Traps & Tricks" sidebars provides practical advice for avoiding pitfalls plaguing energy conservation efforts. Energy Efficiency Manual will earn back its cover price over and over again and is an essential, core reference for personal, professional, and community library energy conservation and energy efficiency reference book collections.
Average customer rating:
- Too Long and Overpriced
- la correcta dimension de la sostenibilidad
- not as good as i expected
- A must read for Landscape Architects
- Significant Book for Architects - Though a Little Slow
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Design with Nature (Wiley Series in Sustainable Design)
Ian L. McHarg
Manufacturer: Wiley
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ASIN: 047111460X |
Book Description
"In presenting us with a vision of organic exuberance and human delight, which ecology and ecological design promise to open up for us, McHarg revives the hope for a better world." âLewis Mumford
". . . important to America and all the rest of the world in our struggle to design rational, wholesome, and productive landscapes." âLaurie Olin, Hanna Olin, Ltd.
"This century's most influential landscape architecture book." âLandscape Architecture
". . . an enduring contribution to the technical literature of landscape planning and to that unfortunately small collection of writings which speak with emotional eloquence of the importance of ecological principles in regional planning." âLandscape and Urban Planning
In the twenty-five years since it first took the academic world by storm, Design With Nature has done much to redefine the fields of landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, and ecological design. It has also left a permanent mark on the ongoing discussion of mankind's place in nature and nature's place in mankind within the physical sciences and humanities. Described by one enthusiastic reviewer as a "user's manual for our world," Design With Nature offers a practical blueprint for a new, healthier relationship between the built environment and nature. In so doing, it provides nothing less than the scientific, technical, and philosophical foundations for a mature civilization that will, as Lewis Mumford ecstatically put it in his Introduction to the 1969 edition, "replace the polluted, bulldozed, machine-dominated, dehumanized, explosion-threatened world that is even now disintegrating and disappearing before our eyes."
Customer Reviews:
Too Long and Overpriced.......2007-08-23
As a former colleague of McHarg's at the University of Pennsylvania during the 1960's, and currently working in a planned community he designed (The Woodlands, TX), I decided to buy this book to try to understand the strange idiosyncracies of The Woodlands, TX.
The book is very wordy, but it is well illustrated. McHarg successfully blended community design with natural boundary conditions (watershed management, geology, forestry, slope properties, etc) with the case histories he presented (some of which I remember when serving on an invited basis on jury's in McHarg's academic program). The book's strength is his advocacy of melding human planning needs with nature's boundary conditions.
BUT, does it really work? Only at the expense of the time of people working and living in such a planned community. The inconvenient practices that go with such a planned community require a lot of adjustment that asks a bit much of people who work in such places but don't live there.
But it works fine for the affluent and the unhurried who can afford it.
la correcta dimension de la sostenibilidad.......2007-06-15
No has estudiado arquitectura si este libro no ha caido en tus manos. Sin Ian Mcharg la arquitectura sostenible no seria posible. Por lo menos la arquitectura sostenible pensada a escala regional."
not as good as i expected.......2003-11-02
this highly recommended book started out as a compelling read, but became something i had to force myself to finish. it seems to be a series of lectures strung together, which may have been interesting as lectures, but is not cohesive enough to be a book. the good information is lost amidst the rambling style.
A must read for Landscape Architects.......2002-08-08
Anyone studying environmental planning or LA should read this book.
Significant Book for Architects - Though a Little Slow.......2002-01-30
While it's not the kind of book you want to lounge around the fireplace reading, it is a book that is frequently referred to by architects. It is significant in designing and ecologially friendly building in today's built-up environment. Summary: Not a great book, but a useful resource for architects.
Book Description
The foundations of modern scientific thought, four centuries old, are firmly rooted in a conception that the universe is a machinelike entity, a play of baubles, -machines, trinkets. Quantum mechanics and biology have begun to change this way of thinking, but even to this day, our real daily experience of ourselves as we actually are, has no clear place in science. No wonder that a machinelike world-view has supported the deadly architecture of the last century.
Alexander breaks away completely from the one-sided mechanical model; he shows us conclusively that the emergence of every act from a larger wholeness must change our understanding completely, and leads inevitably to the fact that a spiritual, emotional, and personal basis must underlie every act of building.
In the middle of the book comes the linchpin of the work; an 86-page chapter on color, which lavishly illustrates and dramatically conveys the way that consciousness and spirit make their appearance in the world.
Throughout this fourth and final book, is a new cosmology uniting matter and consciousness: self inextricably joined to the substrate of matter, present in all matter, and providing wholeness with its underpinnings.
The book provides a path for those contemporary scientists who are beginning to see consciousness as the underpinning of matter, and thus as a proper object of scientific study. It will change, forever, our conception of what buildings are.
"I believe he is likely to be remembered most of all, in the end, for having produced the first credible proof of the existence of God . . ."-Eric Buck, Department of Philosophy, University of Kentucky
Christopher Alexander is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, architect, builder and author of many books and technical papers. He is the winner of the first medal for research ever awarded by the American Institute of Architects, and after 40 years of teaching is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
Customer Reviews:
Borrowed spiritual wisdom.......2004-08-09
Alexander's Pattern Language series was/is a great accomplishment. It made the mysteries of good architectural design accessible to everyone. It attempted to liberate home- and town-building from the arrogant priesthood of professional architects and exposed the bankrupt values behind so much of contemporary building. It offered a deeply human alternative much more in tune with the way we really live.
Not surprisingly it did very little to change professional practices. Even the few architects who are sympathetic to his viewpoint largely dismiss his ideas and methods as economically impractical, except for wealthy clients who can afford the time and money needed to build a home with such individual attention to every idiosyncratic detail. The one area Alexander has had a major influence on is computer program design -- there economic factors are not a constraint and his notions about recursive patterns and sequences have been taken seriously and had a lasting effect.
Having made hardly a dent in his chosen profession, Alexander now appears to have turned his attention elsewhere - to the future and to his own posterity. In The Nature of Order, and especially in the final Book 4, he babbles on and on about his Holy Grail - an "astounding" new world view that will supposedly revolutionize civilization (and vindicate Alexander as a Prophet crying in the modern Wilderness), in which Science and Art, object and subject, ornament and function, beauty and practicality will at last be seen as One Living Whole, inextricably bound together in mystical union like the interwoven threads of the Turkish prayer rugs he is so enamored of. Then and only then will buildings express the True Self and Blaze with Spirit and Inner Light and Centers and Beings and "I-stuff", blah, blah, blah.
The art history illustrations are lovely (by comparison, most of Alexander's own paintings and drawings look rather second-rate), but the half-baked metaphysical ramblings, dressed up as pseudo-science, are very tedious, overly intellectual, and hardly new. The 2500-year-old Buddhist canon and many other spiritual traditions, like Sufism, Taoism, the Hindu Upanishads or Native American and Aboriginal religious cosmologies, have all expressed this vision far more eloquently and effectively. Alexander gives these venerable traditions barely a nod of acknowledgment, except as visual evidence supporting his own vague and untestable theories - since they make no claims to Scientific Truth, as Alexander does relentlessly, he just ignores or co-opts their immense contributions.
Give Alexander credit for his emphasis on personal feeling, but educating our feeling to make ever more accurate side-by-side discriminations between "degrees of life" can take us only so far as an aesthetic method. Being an artist is more a matter of life-long discipline and *practice* - above all, learning how to cultivate the right state of mind - natural and open, free from fixed concepts, beyond even the most refined intellectual judgments of good and bad, beautiful and ugly. It's not something to rattle on about for page after repetitive page, it's something to do - to discover how to do through doing, through direct experience. In my own work, books like John Daido Loori's Zen and Creativity and Chogyam Trungpa's Dharma Art, or Suzuki Roshi's Not Always So have been much more helpful and to the point.
wisdom through patience.......2004-07-30
I'm not an architect, though I do paint a bit and presume to teach. A friend from Ohio undertook one of Alexander's architectural courses, 20 years ago, and posted me notes on Alexander's colour theory. I've used them ever since. But the articulation of this guru's understanding of the experience world & how we process it & make art in and for it, has become keener, more subtle & concise over the years. This is a very, very profound teaching without any messianic overdrive. Indeed, its the patience and humility of Alexander's process of discovering essential rules & roles for making art, that are most profound and the enduring feature of his presentation. And the book's own look exemplifies his quest for the beautiful.I'm not so taken with the reproductions of his own painting, however. I can't quibble with the twentieth century masters he reproduces as evidence for enduring beauty. A fabulous book!
A Profoundly Eloquent Glimpse of Life's Depth..........2004-05-20
*** Original review: May 20, 2004 ***
Those who know me know that I am not prone to making either quick judgements or vacuous statements, so my friends (at least) will know that both the title of this mini-review and the few words that follow are far from whimsical: Alexander's Nature of Order, and in particular this fourth volume which I have recently received and simply cannot put down, are in my humble opinion, destined to rank as one of this *world's* great literary/philosophical achievements. What Alexander has produced is nothing short of a brilliant vision for the transcendent reality that lies beneath and beyond conventional categories. I write this as a Ph.D. physicist, with two graduate-level mathematical physics texts under my belt (both on complex systems), and semi-pro photographer with 30 years of experience of trying to capture "beauty" in nature. Alexander's work has provided a tentative -- but oh so deep -- glimpse of an answer to my own philosophical struggles as scientist and artist: physics and art are but two sides of a vastly richer coin, and are merely pointers to an infinitely rich *life* that pervades this universe; indeed, the life that *is* this universe. Every human being who has ever sincerely pondered the question "Why?" when looking up at the sky, while admiring a pretty flower, or looking into a mirror, can do no better than to curl up by a fireplace with a hot cup of tea, open up volume four of this incredible set of books and start using the musings lovingly offered here to look within for answers. Truly a remarkable achievement. I have never met Christopher Alexander, but can honestly say that I have been deeply touched by this preternaturally wise soul.
***** Musings added Sep 1, 2005 *******
Having now read the entire opus (I-IV), and currently on my 3rd reading of volume I, I am fully convinced that Alexander's Nature of Order is an absolutely stunning achievement of the highest caliber. I also concur with a quote that appears on the inner flap of the books, to the effect that while very few (if any) philosophical/conceptual works (and their authors) are likely to be remembered 500 years hence, there is a strong possibility that Alexander's Opus WILL be remembered as a precursor to what our present day (only partially overlapping fields of) "science" & "art" will have evolved to in 500 years (a unified, wholistic body of "Sci-Art" in which the schism between objective & subjective / inner & outer no longer exists).
What Alexander presents in these books is a tentative first stab at a magnificent new CONCEPT; not a mathematical or physical theory (though rudiments of what might go into a more formal description are also discussed). Although many of Alexander's ideas are quite subtle and require thoughtful reflection to fully comprehend and integrate into (ironically) a whole (new worldview), the basic thesis is original and profound: EVERYTHING that exists contains "life", and the degree (lesser or greater) to which life is manifest in "X" can be *objectively* determined by probing one's *subjective* (inner) world. Nature is seen, in this view, simply as the totality of life, continually unfolding; and beauty (as generated by local life-forms such as humans), as a resonance between outwardly objective forms and (the very deepest) subjective inner feelings.
Western science's longstanding divide between "what's out there in the world" and "what is in here, in our hearts and souls" is exchanged for a new worldview in which our understanding of the cosmos is predicated on an active unity between objectivity and subjectivity; between dispassionate form and intensely personal beauty; between "eye" and "I"; between the deepest inner feeling and continually unfolding outer life. If this sounds radical (and perhaps even a bit strange), that is because it IS radical; Alexander is proposing a sweeping idea that is both revolutionary and (only in hindsight, after having read his extraordinary Opus) obvious! For it really cannot be any other way! Every thinking -- no, every FEELING -- creature who wants to know our cosmos and his/her unique role in it needs to read these books. They are truly remarkable! The next great strides in art and science will be made (simultaneously) when, one day, an EINSTein-Alexander appears and uses the ideas expressed in these books to develop (using a mathematics not yet created) a rigorous new theory of "Sci-Art-Beauty-Life". These are ostensibly books on "architecture"; but they far -- FAR -- transcend that field; they speak, collectively, about everything that exists.
Average customer rating:
- Some interesting approaches to the 'organic' in architecture
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Verb Natures (Actar's Boogazine)
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Verb: Architecture Boogazine
ASIN: 8496540219 |
Book Description
Buildings and cities grow, are transformed and dissolve. How can this evolution be generated, controlled, enhanced or imagined? Is our environment programmable? How does the fusion of natural and artificial materials produce new architectural organisms, new environments, new natures? How does technology animate space and how do users and programs animate matter? Because everything grows, especially cities, the fifth volume of Actar's Verb series looks for a new definition of the organic through architecture, graphics, and photography as well as visual and digital art. Verb Natures follows Verb 1, Verb Matters, Verb Connection and Verb Conditioning.
Customer Reviews:
Some interesting approaches to the 'organic' in architecture.......2007-05-22
Fifth in the Actar 'boogazine' series, Verb Natures is a search for the natural or the organic in architecture. The selected works are as varied as the approaches or design methodologies demonstrated. Certain projects strive for that 'simple' complexity that is often found in genuine natural conditions. Manuel Gausa's 'Land-Arch' project, for instance, explores the ease in which natural systems lend themselves to shifting between scales. Gausa shows the flexibility inherent in natural systems by extending their influence to general program organization and envelope articulation. In contrast is Hitoshi Abe's AIP French Restaurant that choses to simulate nature through the use of imagery and modern fabrication processes. With a thoughtfully articulated screen, Abe manages to create a natural sensibility as it relates to a quality of light rather than structure.
The 'natural' in architecture, as frequently depicted in this book, seems largely informed by mathematical processes. Various algorithms or mathematical expressions are created or utilized as generators of form or structure. The goal often appears to be auto-generative architecture with the intention of removing the influence or 'hand' of the designer. Arguably, this isn't easily accomplished as one has to make certain decisions related to the creation, manipulation and implementation of such processes.
The occasional interviews with the designers are quite interesting and provide excellent insight into the ideas driving each project. This is another well-crafted Actar publication with generous photos, drawings and text.
Book Description
LandscapeConstructed wetlands are gaining worldwide acceptance as effective, low-cost, and low-impact alternatives to unsightly, high-impact wastewater treatment facilities. The creative involvement of today's planners, landscape architects, developers, environmental engineers, and public officials is helping to maximize the potential of these wetland habitatsâfrom their aesthetics to their multiple uses as water treatment plants, wildlife refuges, and recreational or educational facilities. Yet, to date, the literature has paid no attention to these aspects, focusing instead on the technical side of wetlands construction and function.
Constructed Wetlands in the Sustainable Landscape is the first book to integrate aesthetic design and planning issues with the technical aspects of wetlands engineering. Renowned landscape architect Craig S. Campbell and engineer Michael H. Ogden clearly demonstrate how the successful development and management of multifunctional, sustainable wetland habitats depend on harnessing the knowledge and working principles of a number of disciplines. Richly illustrated with real-world case studies, the book:
- Covers the concept of sustainable development and the nature of wetland processes.
- Discusses designs for new and existing municipal and small community wastewater treatment facilities.
- Contains examples of on-site planning for, and management of, stormwater renovation, single-family residential systems, and multiple-use systems.
- Examines landscape engineering and planning for ponds, urban wildlife, and ecological art.
Clearly written and accessible to nonengineers and nonscientists, Constructed Wetlands in the Sustainable Landscape is a crucial guide for landscape architects, environmental engineers, planners, developers, and others responsible for the design and management of our built environment.
Customer Reviews:
Great All-around Guide for Constructed Wetlands.......2002-11-12
This book has become an invaluable reference around our office...for the engineers, landscape architect and directors. The book covers a range of useful topics, from design basics (including relevant modeling formulas), pricing estimates, integration information for planners, citizens and regulators, wetland ecology background notes, landscaping ideas and wonderful examples of systems that the authors themselves have designed and installed.
The book highlights the benefits of wetlands often overlooked or undervalued in other engineering-oriented texts - wildlife habitat creation, aesthetics, water recharge, etc.
Since the book was writen by a landscape architect and an engineer, two visionary pioneers in their fields, it covers a lot of useful ground.
Book Description
In Book 3 of this four-volume work, Alexander presents hundreds of his own buildings and those of other contemporaries who have used methods consistent with the theory of living process.
Nearly seven hundred pages of projects, built and planned in many countries over a thirty-year period, illustrate the impact of living process on the world. The book provides the reader with an intuitive feel for the kind of world, its style and geometry, which is needed to generate living structure in the world and its communities, together with its ecological and natural character.
The projects include public buildings, neighborhoods, housing built by people for themselves, public urban space, rooms, gardens, ornament, colors, details of construction and construction innovation. The many buildings shown, and the methods needed to design and build these buildings, define living structure in a practical way that can be understood and copied.
". . . Alexander's approach presents a fundamental challenge to us and our style-obsessed age. It suggests that a beautiful form can come about only through a process that is meaningful to people. It also implies that certain types of processes, regardless of when they occur or who does them, can lead to certain types of forms."-Thomas Fisher, former editor of Progressive Architecture.
Christopher Alexander is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, architect, builder, and author of many books and technical papers. He is the winner of the first medal for research ever awarded by the American Institute of Architects, and Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 40 years.
Customer Reviews:
A practical approach to reinventing human habitats.......2005-04-15
Alexander's long-awaited third book in the four-volume Nature of Order series finally provides a practical guide to creating great places based on his concepts of "centers", "wholeness" and "structure-preserving transformations."
Page after page of photos and diagrams give weight to Alexander's process-oriented approach to building.
This tome should be required reading for anyone who has wondered whether there is a way to reinvent our cities and suburbs away from "sprawl" and into vibrant, living places.
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- Superbly Done
- A grand tour of over 300 venerable residences representing twenty-three architectural styles
- Wonderful architecture reference!
- Great subject matter, poor format
- Classic Portland Houses 1850-1950
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Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon 1850-1950
William J. Hawkins , and
William F. Willingham
Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0881924334 |
Book Description
Discover Portland's great residential architecture in the context of the history and broader, international architectural trends.
Customer Reviews:
Superbly Done.......2007-09-11
At first blush, the following may sound like what the late SPY magazine referred to as "logrolling." What I mean is that when I began researching a book about Portland architecture, the gentleman I most wanted to consult on the topic was William J. Hawkins, III. He is well known for his erudition, depth of knowledge, and courtliness, and I was fortunate to get him to assist me with my project.
I mention all that in the interest of full disclosure. As to this book, like any researcher, I am pleased when I can find a comprehensive and reliable reference. And when it's as nicely written and attractively laid out as this book, well, that's when research stops being a job and it turns into a pleasure. Superbly done.
A grand tour of over 300 venerable residences representing twenty-three architectural styles .......2005-10-12
Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs, Classic Houses Of Portland, Oregon 1850-1950 is a grand tour of over 300 venerable residences representing twenty-three architectural styles including Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Bungalow, the regional Northwest style, and many more. A brief history of each house is given; sometimes floor plans are offered, to help the reader fully appreciate the distinct ambience of the dwellings. Classic Houses Of Portland, Oregon 1850-1950 offers a marvelous, sweeping, informative tour which as enjoyable for non-specialist general readers as it is for architectural student, professionals, and historians.
Wonderful architecture reference!.......2005-08-09
This book not only provides a thorough history of Portland's development through the years, but also a comprehensive explanation of the characteristics and backgrounds of varying styles of architecture. Great coffee table read, and if you live in Portland, an excellent guide to discovering the city's many architectural treasures.
Great subject matter, poor format.......2001-04-28
I have no problem with the material in this book. The only thing I don't like is the index. I know that is petty, but with a book like this it is important. In the book you can look up houses by neighborhood but there is not a reference that shows the page number. Why is this bad? Lets say I wanted to go for a walk and look at some old Portland architecture. If the index were set up properly I could look at which neighborhood I was going to and then reference the page to see if it was still standing (very important) and if it was something I really wanted to look at!
Classic Portland Houses 1850-1950.......1999-12-25
This beautiful volume examines the first century of Portland's domestic architecture with a critical but sympathetic eye. Many of its finest examples have disappeared in all but photos, and others exist only in misshapen form, but the author is able to recall the grace, dignity, pretension and whimsy which went into their original design. This is a book for both new and old residents who may have decided that our "Stumptown" had little adornment in its early years,and proves that Portland was already a place of discernment and competitive display long before the 19th Century turned, when Seattle was a fishing camp and jumping off point to Alaskan gold. Besides the implicit social and artistic history lesson, the book's black and white photos are a memorable eyeful for anyone who loves American homes, furnishings, or decoration. A very rich read, indeed.
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