Photograph © 2019 Patric Johansson, Delin Arkitektkontor: Lundnäs House, Arbrä, Sweden., The Summerhouse offers a picture frame for viewing the river, but also provides a sense of intimate connection with the woodland in which it sits.
1. Living Wild
Do you feel the call of the wild? Want to embrace the simple life? Long to quit the rat race and start life anew in a log cabin? Then Living Wild: New Beginnings in the Great Outdoors is the perfect read.
The book features families, couples and individuals who have already made the leap and escaped into nature. From a ranch on the Great Plains of America, to a narrowboat on the canals of Worcester, the book explores how we can leave our old lives behind and create something beautiful. Illustrated with dreamy photos and enriched with personal stories and practical insights, Living Wild will have you reaching for your passport and planning your own adventure.
2. Gardens That Can Save The World
With the world warming, prices soaring and crises all around, it’s easy to feel powerless in our everyday lives. But what if the solutions to many of these problems could be found simply by going outside?
Bringing together the galvanizing stories of 65 projects that revolve around plants, Gardens that can Save the World reveals how small changes can have a big impact on you, your loved ones and the environment around us.
Whether you're a green-fingered garden aficionado or have yet to step outside your front room, award-winning garden designer Lottie Delamain’s uplifting book reveals how people from all walks of life are harnessing nature to right the planet’s wrongs. Packed with inspiration, it will encourage you to try out easy-to-replicate strategies in your own plant pot, balcony, or further afield.
3. WOHA:
4. Off The Grid
Recent advances in technologies and home-generated renewable energy have made building away from urban and rural infrastructures more practical, affordable and desirable than ever.
This survey of the world’s most innovative off-grid homes reveals the stunning spaces and constructions that enable us to escape to some of the most extraordinary natural environments on the planet.
All of the houses featured in Off the Grid are fully, or almost fully, self-sufficient in terms of energy, water and, in some cases, food. Architecture and interior design expert Dominic Bradbury reveals how each house makes everyday living in these wild and natural settings a rewarding and tempting reality.
5. Garden City
One of the most ambitious green architecture books around, Garden City is a spectacular global survey of the buildings and concepts ‘greening’ our cities. Bringing together groundbreaking ideas on architecture and horticulture, the book offers hope of a more sustainable future and a fresh look at modern design.
Garden City lets us reimagine our urban areas, swap grey tower blocks for cascading waterfalls of greenery, replace skyscrapers with vertical gardens and turn city blocks into treehouses. By placing nature at the very heart of architectural design and city planning, we can begin to transform our most polluted areas and regenerate our planet. If you need a little green inspiration, this book will give you the horticultural hit you’re looking for.
6. Nano House
In our growing cities, space is at a premium. In the countryside, we want to preserve the landscape and build as ‘lightly’ as possible and in impoverished parts of the world the need for sustainable, economical shelter is stronger than ever. At the same time, digital design tools, eco-materials and new prefabrication technologies have all led to an explosion in innovative ideas for our domestic spaces.
Nano House presents the latest and most exciting solutions for houses where space is at a premium, nature must be preserved or accommodation created for those who need it most.
7. Futurekind
If you feel despondent or powerless when faced with potential climate catastrophe, Futurekind should be the next title on your reading list. Part manual, part manifesto, part call-to-arms, the book brings together sixty world-changing projects that are shaping a better future for us all.
Realised through a process of collaboration between communities and designers, the projects focus on socially and environmentally conscious design. Harnessing the latest technologies and addressing important, real-world issues, they are empowering a whole new generation of designers and activists. Delve into Futurekind to find inspiration for your next social or environmental campaign.
8. The Green Imperative:
The Green Imperative is one of the cornerstones of the sustainability library. The classic title is just as relevant today as when it was first published in 1995. Written by sustainable design pioneer Victor Papanek, it looks at the purpose of architecture and design and asks how designers can forge a more balanced path.
In the book, Papanek reimagines the world around us. He questions the ‘bigger is better’ myth and looks at how we can reassess our principles, use less, reuse more and design for the long term. Insightful and instructive, the book makes a compelling case for a radical rethink of how and what we consume. By looking at things from a human scale, The Green Imperative shows us how we, as individuals, can make a difference and really impact the future of our planet.
9. Houses That Can Save the World
If you’re looking for practical steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint and boost sustainability, Houses That Can Save the World could help. The book features nineteen building and design strategies that will change the way you think about your home. While many of these ideas harness new technologies, a lot are surprisingly simple and call on tried and tested vernacular methods.
This inspirational book takes in projects from around the globe, including developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. It examines how climate change, polluting plastics, global migration, rapidly expanding cities and ageing populations are impacting the environment and the way we live. It also looks at how architects, designers, engineers, self-builders and artists can work to address these challenges and create a better world.
10. Habitat:
Long before humans started building towers of concrete and glass, we used local, natural materials and inherited knowledge to create dwellings specifically designed for their location. In Habitat, we hear from the world’s leading experts on vernacular architecture. They examine how local buildings have stood the test of time and analyse the lessons they offer for the future of sustainable architecture.
The buildings in the book are arranged by climate zone, allowing us to see how their design is affected by climatic conditions and other regional factors. These resilient homes show how architecture can be practical and beautiful without being wasteful, and how traditional knowledge is often key to making designs that really work.
