The Ecological House Sustainable Architecture Around the World

When people say "ecological house," they can be referring to any one of an infinite number of project plans destined to produce the least predictable outcomes you could possibly imagine. The simple definition of an ecological house, in fact, does not correspond to a universally applicable style, nor to a technology or means of construction capable, per se, of representing it exhaustively. Ecological architecture measures itself with and adapts, above all, to the place - whether the context is urban, suburban, rural, or natural - with its environmental features, landscape, available resources, culture, and characteristic social and economic dynamics. If one were simply to call it "conscious architecture," one could not go wrong. How does one achieve the aim of realizing an "ecological" dwelling? With technological exaggeration, or with a nostalgic return to the vernacular? By means of a reaction to the modern, or with the intention of giving new meanings to this term? In the majority of instances, adopting this innovative project approach has led to the recovery of materials, constructional traditions, and forms of wisdom that had been ignored and forgotten, to revitalize and give them a new chance. But at the same time, the desire to soften the impact of construction upon the environment has become the driving principle of technological innovation in materials, in constructional systems, in systems layout. This volume's objective is to illustrate some of the most prominent tendencies and lines of research that have emerged, and to introduce some of their advocates - pioneers, masters, or budding youth - through a broad review of projects dedicated to the most widespread way of living in the world: the individual or single-family home. But sustainability in architecture does not refer only to individual homes that are immersed, ideally, in verdure. Accordingly, one section of the book is dedicated to illustrating the best realizations of ecological buildings for a wide variety of uses. Ecological architecture has a new, polycentric geography, where ideas diffuse and develop in a multidirectional manner. Planners from every part of the world, of every age and background, have succeeded in distilling the poetics of living in harmony with the environment. Together they present a fascinating panorama of "architectural biodiversity."