Sustainable Design Basics

Sharon B. Jaffe, Rob Fleming, Mark Karlen, Saglinda H. Roberts

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781119443735
• eBook ISBN: 9781119443841
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

An accessible, climate-diverse guide that transforms readers from sustainable design novices to whole-solution problem solvers.

Sustainable Design Basics is a student-friendly introduction to a holistic and integral view of sustainable design. Comprehensive in scope, this textbook presents basic technical information, sustainability strategies, and a practical, step-by-step approach for sustainable building projects. Clear and relatable chapters illustrate how to identify the factors that reduce energy use, solve specific sustainable design problems, develop holistic design solutions, and address the social and cultural aspects of sustainable design. Requiring no prior knowledge of the subject, the text's easy-to-follow methodology leads readers through the fundamental sustainable design principles for the built environment.

Sustainably-constructed and maintained buildings protect the health and improve the productivity of their occupants, as well as help to restore the global ecosystem. The authors, leading practitioners and educators in sustainable design, have created a resource that provides a solid introduction to broad level sustainability thinking that students can take forward into their professional practice. Topics include space planning for sustainable design, integrative and collaborative design, standards and rating systems, real-world strategies to conserve energy and resources through leveraging renewable natural resources and innovative construction techniques and their impact on our environment.

Usable and useful both in and beyond the classroom, this book:

• Covers building location strategies, building envelopes and structures, integration of passive and active systems, green materials, and project presentation
• Examines cultural factors, social equity, ecological systems, and aesthetics
• Provides diverse student exercises that vary by climate, geography, setting, perspective, and typology
• Features a companion website containing extensive instructor resources

Sustainable Design Basics is an important resource aimed at undergraduate architecture and interior design students, or first-year graduate students, as well as design professionals wishing to integrate sustainable design knowledge and techniques into their practice.

1
Why, How, Who, and What

Sustainability does not fit nicely under a single heading; it does not belong to a specific academic discipline or school subject. Nor is it the domain of any one sector—environment, education, business, or government. The quest to increase global sustainability involves many aspects of culture and a variety of disciplines that affect the world's ecology, economics, ethics, and education. Sustainability is an issue beyond a given lifetime or location. It is everybody's business and involves all aspects of how one lives in the modern world.

WHY USE THIS BOOK

This text is a basic primer focused on the design process for the sustainable built environment.

Buildings that are sustainably constructed and maintained contribute to the repair of the global ecosystem throughout their entire life cycle, while protecting the health and increasing the productivity of building occupants. The design of sustainable buildings requires that the architectural design process evolve into a new framework that promotes a transformation of the built environment globally. This framework must address the local context and apply to the full life cycle of the building.

Sustainable buildings are resilient buildings, mitigating damage to the environment and capable of adaptation. They are designed for longevity with low embodied energy requirements. Resilience requires a holistic approach to sustainability that extends to both lifestyle and the community beyond the buildings themselves.

Sustainable Design Basics presents design strategies that leverage renewable natural resources and innovative construction techniques to incorporate systems that conserve energy and resources. However, this book is more than a collection of sustainable strategies. Sustainable Design Basics is a methodology.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

This text is an instructional tool that presents both basic technical information and sustainability strategies required for sustainability, and a methodology to facilitate the collection, analysis, and evaluation required to approach a sustainable building project.

Sustainable design is inherently a complicated process. It requires an understanding of influencing factors far beyond client preferences, program requirements, and construction methods. For the architect or designer first approaching sustainable building design, it can be overwhelming.

For this reason, Sustainable Design Basics (SDB) has simplified the process to its most basic design steps. SDB introduces a step‐by‐step methodology with a series of matrices and worksheets as decision‐making tools, as well as a demonstration project that illustrates each step. The SDB methodology is a working tool intended for use in the design process, not merely a text to be read for information. While an individual learner may use the SDB methodology, it was conceived and is intended for use in a conventional studio classroom setting.

WHO SHOULD USE THIS BOOK

As a basics book, in the tradition of Space Planning Basics by Mark Karlen and Rob Fleming and Lighting Design Basics by Mark Karlen, Christina Spangler, and James R. Benya, Sustainable Design Basics is directed primarily to intermediate‐level (sophomore or junior levels in a baccalaureate or first professional degree program) interior architecture, interior design, and architecture students. These previous “Basics” books are the inspiration for a precise, easily accessible methodology to address sustainable design. However, this particular subject matter asks a lot of the reader. Sustainable design is a far‐reaching subject that touches every aspect of design and deals with a wide range of design variables. It is a challenging subject. In breaking down the topic to address basics, a few readers may find some topics too simple and other topics too complicated. Hopefully, the bulk of the text addresses the subject material with an easily accessible, informative, and applicable approach.

One of the critical aspects of sustainability is the interrelated nature of global society. That is true for the environment, marketplaces, and education. Readers may come to this text from all parts of the world. With that understanding, the language of this book is direct and straightforward. Complex matters are broken down to smaller basic concepts to avoid, where possible, multilayered, complex theory. The authors are based in the United States, yet the sustainable design principles and practices in this book have global application. Locations in the United States may dominate the examples and exercises, but the choice of specific site locations was a result of limited time to address an ambitious scope of challenging material and not an effort to exclude other people or countries.

WHAT ARE THE PARAMETERS OF THIS BOOK

The primary focus of Sustainable Design Basics is design, not technology nor terminology. Specifically, the focus is limited to interior architecture, interior design, and architecture. The methodology described applies to both new construction and to renovation of existing buildings. For clarity, this text limits the number of variables with a focus on new construction variables, although renovation and building reuse are vital elements of a sustainable built environment. However, each existing building has unique characteristics of construction, materials, and existing systems, beyond what a basics text can competently address.

A site for a building is a complex and worthy topic for sustainable design exploration. Limited by time and textbook length, in‐depth exploration of the landscape and the complexities and challenges presented to sustainable designers are beyond the scope of this book.

ORGANIZATION

Sustainable Design Basics is a step by step, how‐to methodology. Sadly, books are by default linear. There is not a “spiraling” option for information in print. While the text flows in a direct linear sequence of information, understand that sustainable design is not a linear process. The sustainable design process is integrated and iterative, frequently looping back to revisit preceding design decisions.

EXERCISES

The concepts and strategies included in this text have direct application to interior design, interior architecture, and architecture. The exercises that accompany the text follow the step‐by‐step methodology allowing the reader to do work independently to develop sustainable design skills through project‐based learning. A set of undeveloped sites and building “shells” in a variety of geographic locations in the United States provided for exercise project locations each have different geological, climatic, and cultural contexts. Completing assignments on different sites allows the exploration of the sense of “place” as a fundamental design influence, inspiring different design ideas. A variety of clients, users, and contexts ranging from rural to urban are provided as exercise variables. The study of hundreds of projects is possible by mixing and matching exercise variables. Projects can be explored in the studio classroom setting or independently.

Users of this text are expected to possess basic knowledge of design, drafting, and planning skills. Many of the exercises require the ability to open and print AutoCAD files or to download and print PDF files. Some of the exercises in Chapter 15 require software. There are also exercises that can be completed, with some variation, without software. Additional software information is available in the appendix and the companion website.

COMPANION WEBSITE

A companion website to this book (www.wiley.com/go/jaffesustainable) has a variety of tools, matrices, templates, SketchUp, and AutoCAD files not found in the printed text, as well as:

• PowerPoint files with simple slides that review the materials addressed in the book
• Narrated videos that review and augment concepts presented in the text
• Simulation and validation assignments which require energy modeling software

2
Mindset

At the most basic level, designers of the built environment create the spaces and places that provide shelter from the elements, and thermal comfort while creating the surroundings of life. The quality of life is dependent upon the work designers, builders, engineers, and architects accomplish daily. It takes a lot of material and energy to construct and operate the buildings, interiors, and landscapes of the world. The use of these materials...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• About the Companion Website
• 1 Why, How, Who, and What
• 2 Mindset
• 3 Step 1: Context
• 4 Step 2 Pre‐Planning
• 5 Step 3: Design
• 6 Step 3B: Passive Design
• 7 Step 3B: Passive Design, Daylighting
• 8 Step 3C: Building Envelope
• 9 Step 3D: Green Materials
• 10 Step 4: Design Resolution
• 11 Demonstration Project
• 12 Beyond the Basics
• 13 Design Resolution
• 14 Demonstration Project: Final Presentation
• 15 Exercises
• Appendix A: Demonstration Project Program, Climate, and Context Resources
• Appendix B: Forms and Matrices
• Appendix C: Energy Modeling Software
• Appendix D: Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Appendix E: Green Building Standards, Codes and Rating Systems
• Bibliography
• Index
• End User License Agreement