The Good Building Book

Principles of Efficient, Functional and Sustainable Design

Jon Broome, Nick Grant

• Publisher: Green Books
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781399417129
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Sustainability in Architecture
• Index: Technology & Engineering

'Mandatory reading for everyone in our design practice.' CHARLIE LUXTON
'A deeply fascinating book.' MARK BRINKLEY

Drawing from extensive experience, award-winning architect Jon Broome and design engineer Nick Grant celebrate undervalued ideas that have stood the test of time.

The Good Building Book provides provocative and empowering insights, along with critical analysis, to help rethink design and construction.

- Guides readers through project development, from single home to larger projects.
- Examines performance standards and navigates commercial aspects such as budgets, contracts, and consultants.
- Explores strategic design and principles of good details for building elements, weaving together aesthetics, performance, and value in context.
- Offers practical principles and design strategies relevant for a rapidly changing world.
- Features more than 150 photos and a further 90 diagrams.

Whether you're a designer or contractor, building user or client, student or teacher, this solution-focused book provides a new way of thinking about how we shape the built environment for a sustainable future.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1.0 DESIGN
• 1.1 What is a good building? An introduction to the key principles of good buildings
• 1.2 Beauty, utility and economy in action Archives and museums provide useful insight
• 1.3 Buildings as sculpture When form overrides function to produce bad buildings
• 1.4 Eco-bling – innovation and aspiration Aspiration and innovation can bring questionable results
• 1.5 Problem-solving designs The features of a good building design process
• 1.6 The search for quality What the designer must bring to the process – the need for care
• 1.7 A modern vernacular Four principles coming together to shape a process for designing and producing good buildings
• 1.8 The modern vernacular in action Applying the four principles in action in the field of housing design
• 1.9 Self-build Lessons from an approach to housing more akin to the idea of a modern vernacular
• 1.10 Sustainable neighbourhoods How the principles we have learnt from housing can inform good places, towns and cities
• 2.0 REDUCING ENERGY
• 2.1 Comfort and sufficiency Both important considerations, but what kind of ‘comfort’ and how much space do we need?
• 2.2 Closing the performance gap Why many buildings do not achieve their planned minimum-emission performance
• 2.3 Form factor, massing and shape How size and shape are often fixed before detailed cost, energy or structural analysis are performed
• 2.4 Environmental modelling and targets Numbers and targets are crucial to an understanding of how to improve the performance of buildings
• 2.5 Passive solar design Shifting the focus from passive solar gains to glazing design to serve the comfort of occupants
• 2.6 Why Passivhaus? The benefits, limitations and myths surrounding the use of this highly effective building standard
• 2.7 Buildings must breathe Draught-free construction – and the resulting need for moisture and odour control – are essential
• 3.0 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CONSTRUCTION
• 3.1 Heavyweight or lightweight? Advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and some myths explored
• 3.2 Upfront carbon emissions How to reduce emissions arising from the act of construction, alongside other environmental impacts
• 3.3 The more details, the more devils Principles for detailing to create robust buildings that achieve design, performance and sustainability aims
• 3.4 Elements of good building Approaches to the design of foundations, raised ground-floor construction, non-loadbearing walls, flat roof construction and windows
• 3.5 Services Efficient building services should be integrated into the design from an early stage
• 4.0 THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING
• 4.1 Land Focusing on the issue of land ownership and value, huge influencers on what is built
• 4.2 Design education and post-occupancy evaluation How to acquire the skills, knowledge and values designers need; learning what works and what doesn’t
• 4.3 Cost and value Why do costs vary? Who benefits from value? How to reduce uncertainty and control costs
• 4.4 Value engineering in design Understanding how buildings perform and learning from experience
• 4.5 Appointing a design team and contractors A constructive approach to finding the right team and managing costs, quality and time
• 4.6 Risk management and regulation Risks that cannot be avoided and how to mitigate them, and the uses and limitations of regulation
• Afterword
• Notes on the authors
• Chapter notes
• Acknowledgements
• Image credits
• Index
• eCopyright