Sustaining Design

Sustainability is now one of the key debates shaping cities. It has been suggested that 'sustainable architecture isn't a prescription. It's an approach, an attitude. It shouldn't really even have a label. It should just be architecture!' But what does it mean to describe a building as 'green'? How can we make sense of the bewildering array of contrasting styles of sustainable architecture? Based on original research by a sociologist and an architect, the book draws upon a range of perspectives and theories that illuminate both the contested nature of green design and the socially constructive nature of sustainable architectural practice.
Written in an accessible, highly illustrated format, the book will appeal to students, practitioners and academics alike. It is theoretically informed and exemplified throughout with well-known international examples of green building. The original features of the book include the application of new sociological approaches to the analysis of architecture, the identification of six alternative logics of ecological design which have their roots in competing conceptions of environmentalism; detailed exploration of the ways in which each logic pre-figures technological strategies and alternative visions of sustainable places in a diverse range of international projects; and the implications of the contested nature of ecological design for architectural education, practice and research.