Behind Adobe Walls : The Hidden Homes and Gardens of Santa Fe and Taos

Author(s): Landt

Publisher: Chronicle Books

ISBN: 0811811646

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Behind Adobe Walls : The Hidden Homes and Gardens of Santa Fe and Taos

Paperback, 144 pages
Publication date: June 1997

Amazon.com:
Once upon a time these New Mexico towns were rough-and-tumble settlements peopled by drifters and dreamers. Sante Fe and Taos are still very much a cultural rendezvous, but far removed from their humble beginnings; Sante Fe has lately become known as the Beverly Hills of the Southwestern U.S. Among its full-time residents are the Dennises, the husband and wife author-photographer team who host this tour of their neighbors’ private homes. The owners and designers weigh in with their own words about creating these eclectic sanctuaries, making it a very personal tour.

Customer Comments – Seattle wa USA , 10/24/97, rating=8:
Colorful presentation of some of the most colorful homes in the Santa Fe and Taos area, inspirational for those of use who love the Southwest in all its forms

The Architecture of Affordable Housing

Author(s): Sam Davis

Publisher: Univ California Press

ISBN: 0520208854

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

The Architecture of Affordable Housing

Paperback, 220 pages
Publication date: June 1997

From Booklist , 04/15/95:
The architecture of affordable housing has assumed as many forms as the very nomenclature. Davis presents a history of poor, low-income, social, and subsidized housing using examples of Frank Lloyd Wright, the WPA, and contemporary case studies in the most expensive state in the union, California. These examples illustrate that while the beliefs surrounding affordable housing have changed, the need has been steady, if not growing. They also illustrate many myths, one being that affordable housing most often isn’t any cheaper to build than market-rate housing. The in-depth documentation of the community planning process shows just how passionate the contesting parties are and how complex the issues have become. While not offering Wright’s technical secrets on cost cutting, the California case studies lend the book a credibility from which both laypeople and architects can benefit. But, ultimately, the 10 award-winning projects the author presents as evidence of good architecture fulfilling a social need skirt the real issue: Why is it that award-winning projects can turn into unlivable places and that less attractive ones can be wonderful places to live? While the book is valuable, Davis does not address the issue of place-making and community, which many believe is the heart of the affordable housing crisis. Copyright© 1995, American Library Association. All rights reserved

Synopsis:
Architect Sam Davis contends that a country of wealth that cannot provide sound housing for those in need is a national embarrassment. Here Davis explores the design possibilities of dignified affordable housing for those not served by the private sector and how that housing could fit comfortably into our communities. 108 illus.

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The Architect and Affordable Housing
2. The Process: The Long and Winding Road
3. Why Affordable Housing Isn’t
4. Design: Things Big and Small, Far and Near
5. Is Affordable Housing Significant Architecture?
Afterword
Notes
Illustration Credits
Index

Earth to Spirit: In Search of Natural Architecture

Author(s): David Pearson

Publisher: Chronicle Books

ISBN: 811807312

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Continuing in the tradition of Pearson’s best-selling The Natural House Book this New Age approach to eco-architecture touts a variety of “environmentally clean” and “spiritually healthy” buildings from around the world and through the centuries.

From the author of The Natural House Book comes a provocative volume for anyone interested in design, designing or building which integrates the lessons of the past with today’s technology to create structures where the land, the home, and the spirit coexist harmoniously. 146 color photos. 18 illustrations.

Earthship: Systems and Components vol. 2

Author: Mike Reynolds

Paperback: 254 pages

Publisher: Solar Survival Pr; First Edition edition (November 1991)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0962676713

ISBN-13: 978-0962676710

The book talks about his concept of the Earthship, how to build them, how they work, and how you, too can live virtually independant of the large grid of services available to you, and that in many ways makes you work for the system itself.

The structures are partially buried, with load bearing walls made of earth rammed old tyres, non load bearing walls built of cans, with greywater systems supported by rain catchwater. PV and wind powered, with food and other plants grown in the house, the premise is as close to total self sufficiency as one might be able to get. Philosophically, nearly a perfect expression of that desire. Practically, it seems to deliver, which sets itself apart from many other building methods and philosophies.

In this age of unreliable utilities, uncertain prices of fuels, corrupt business leaders, bankrupt corporations and politics bought and paid for by institutions whose motives are quentionable, such a book and underlying philosphy seems relevant like no other time similar except the early 1970’s.

To some, this book of building a low cost shelter might help someone get into a nice house where they might not have otherwise, to others this might be a manifesto, still others might have the engineering appeal strike the most resonant cord.

Reinventing Nature? : Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction

Author(s): Michale E. Soule, Gary Lease (Editor), Alan Gussow (Illustrator), Michael E. Soule

Publisher: Island Press

ISBN: 1559633107

Order From: Hardcover: Amazon.com
Paperback: Amazon.com

(links will open in a new window)

176 pages

January 1995

How much of science is culturally constructed? How much depends on language and metaphor? How do our ideas about nature connect with reality? Can nature be “reinvented” through theme parks and malls, or through restoration? Reinventing Nature? is an interdisciplinary investigation of how perceptions and conceptions of nature affect both the individual experience and society’s management of nature. Leading thinkers from a variety of fields – philosophy sociology, zoology, history, ethnobiology and others – address the conflict between the perception and reality of nature, each from a different perspective. The editors of the volume provide an insightful introductory chapter that places the book in the context of contemporary debates and a concluding chapter that brings together themes and draws conclusions from the dialogue.

Booknews, Inc. , June 1, 1995 A multidisciplinary response to some postmodern deconstruction which questions the concepts of nature and wilderness<-;- >sometimes, the authors contend, in order to justify further exploitative tinkering with what little remains of it. Topics include how concepts of nature differ in various academic disciplines and the implications of some claims that modern ideas of wilderness conservation are Western, often elitist, neo- colonial concepts. Paper edition (unseen), $17.95. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Energy-Efficient Design and Construction for Commercial Buildings

Author(s): Adrian Tuluca

Publisher: McGraw Hill Text

ISBN: 0070711593

ISBN-13: 978-0070711594

Order From Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Hardcover

Publication date: January 1997

Synopsis: Today’s architects must design energy-efficient buildings, so they need to grasp all aspects of the building process related to energy savings. This guide makes energy-saving design strategies accessible to these professionals by explaining them in non-technical language. Included also are case studies which provide a thorough understanding of all facets of the building envelope, as well as mechanical and electrical systems.

170 illustrations.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. The Building Envelope: Walls, Roofs, and Foundations
2. Glass, Glazing, and Solar Control
3. Efficient Lighting
4. HVAC Equipment
5. Heat Recovery
6. Cogeneration
7. HVAC Control Systems
8. Tools for Energy Efficient Design Conclusion

New Compact House Designs

Author(s): Don Metz, Ben Watson (Editor)

Publisher: Storey Books

ISBN: 0882666665

ISBN-13: 978-0882666662

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

27 award-winning plans for homes of 1250 square feet or less.

These plans are the winners from the second Compact House Design Competition, a juried contest receiving designs of up to 1250 square feet and with at least two bed rooms from North American architects, designers, and architecture students. Each design provides a floor plan, four elevations, a perspective, one wall section, and a site plan (though many designs have yet to actually be built). The houses vary greatly in cost, and range from classic to postmodern in style. The inadequate text provided means that one must be an able “print” interpreter in order to ferret out many of the good ideas and space-saving arrangements. Recommended for libraries with plan book browsers. The designs for winners of the first contest were presented in Compact House Book (Storey Communications, 1988).
– W.T. Johnston, formerly with Coastal Plain Regional Lib., Tifton, Ga.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Houses of the future will be smaller, more energy-efficient, and better suited to their environments. And intelligent design solutions can help expand the scope and livability of a compact house, making it elegant as well as practical. In 1990, Storey Communications sponsored the Compact House Design Competition, a juried contest open to architects, designers, and architecture students. From the numerous entries that were received from all over North America, professional architects Don Metz and Peter Woerner selected the best and most innovative designs to include in “New Compact House Designs”. Although the top three designs received cash awards, all 27 of the designs in this book are winners–and each design illustrates a classic or contemporary approach to living gracefully in a small house. The basic guidelines were clear: design a single-family house with a minimum of two bedrooms whose gross floor area does not exceed 1,250 square feet. Aside from these stipulations, almost anything went, and the broad spectrum of designs included in this book reflects the geographical and stylistic diversity of the winning entries–from a classic New England farmhouse to a sophisticated postmodern design, from a New Mexican desert hacienda to a fanciful house with Elizabethan overtones. The perfect idea book for current and future homeowners, “New Compact House Designs” will also appeal to anyone interested in architectural design. Each entry included in the book features a site drawing, floor plans, elevation and section drawings, judges’ comments, and a complete description of the project. Addresses for architects and designers are also provided for readers interested in obtaining scale plans or more information on any particular house.

Sustainable Architecture: Principles, Paradigms, and Case Studies

Author(s): James Steele

Publisher: McGraw Hill Text

ISBN: 0070609497

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Sustainable Architecture: Principles, Paradigms, and Case Studies

Hardcover
320 pages
8th edition
June 1997
This groundbreaking book takes an eye-opening look at how and why 20th-century building technology has been so environmentally destructive. It then sets forth a workable strategy for redefining the post-industrial role of architecture and urbanism and shows, with exquisitely illustrated case examples, what can be done to solve these problems.

Environmentally intelligent building design and urban planning will be crucial to the world’s future. “Sustainable development” has become a buzzword in recent years, but it stands for an urgent international problem. How can the industrialized nations curb their overconsumption of the earth’s resources? And how can less-developed countries climb out of poverty without also stripping the environment? Sustainable Architecture maintains that architecture plays a critical role in international development. Modern construction techniques have spread around the world and have proven to be particularly wasteful and destructive. But this book clearly spells out answers to the dilemma. Architects and their clients can Learn: which building materials to use; how to use natural light and ventilation; how to select the “greenest” of modern methods-inexpensively; which traditional buidling methods are enviromentally harmonious; to teach their students enviromentally sensistive design. The book has a wealth of case histories of well-planned buildings and communities the world over. Also included are facts about the comparative merits of building materials, the energy it takes to produce them, and the impact of that production of the Third World. For educators, there is a blueprint for a course in sustainable architecture. Sustainable Architecture is an invaluable aid to architects, their students, their clients, and community planners. It clearly shows the way to environmentally responsible design and building practice.

The Healthy House: Creating a Safe, Healthy and Environmentally Friendly Home

Author(s): Sydney Baggs, Joan C. Baggs

Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd

ISBN: 0732256682

ISBN-13: 978-0732256685

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

“I was amazed at the scope of information contained in this book. It opened my eyes to all the things you must keep in mind when creating your new home. All those things you won’t realise the significance of till it’s to late, they’re in this book. You won’t be disappointed.” —Daniel Greenwood (New Zealand)

Paperback
February 1997

Good Neighbors : Affordable Family Housing (Design for Living)

Author(s): Tom Jones, William Pettus, Michael Pyatok

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

ISBN: 0070329133

Order From: Amazon.com
(links will open in a new window)

Good Neighbors : Affordable Family Housing (Design for Living)

Hardcover, 240 pages
Publication date: December 1996

Design family housing that only looks like it cost a fortune. Discover how America’s most creative, resourceful builders and communities are solving affordable housing problems by applying the design and construction techniques detailed in Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing by Tome Jones, William Pettus, and Michael Pyotok. Filled with real-life examples ranging from small towns to inner-city locations, this hands-on resource gives you a brief history of affordable housing in the USA and shows you how to develop these units with a mix of government and private financing, you get revealing profiles of people who live in affordable housing. . .essential data on the factors that influence affordable housing design. . .and dozens of illustrated case studies of developments from coast to coast. The book showcases the work of William Tawn Associates, Cooper Robertson Partners, Marquis Associates, Solomon, Inc. and other innovative firms.

Synopsis:
Based on the lauded AIA Design for Housing initiative and supported by an NEA grant, here is the first truly authoritative guide to modern affordable housing design. This landmark book provides architects, landscape architects, planners, developers, advocates, government officials, and policy makers with workable answers for the design of affordable, anesthetically pleasing housing.