Handmade Houses: A Century of Earth-Friendly Home Design

Handmade Houses: A Century of Earth-Friendly Home Design Review

Showcasing one hundred years of innovation and environmental sensitivity, Handmade Houses celebrates some of the world’s most idiosyncratic homes from Big Sur to Sardinia. Author Richard Olsen  unveils the components used for their construction, including driftwood, boulders, and even old wine vats.

The first study of the handmade-homes phenomenon since its inception in the late 1960s, Handmade Houses revisits the subject’s roots and history, exploring how these homes and their owners paved the way for the architectural-salvage business and the reclaimed, industrial look ever-popular today. As fascinating as the structures are themselves, their owners—professionals and amateurs who personally designed and built each residence—offer their inspirations and stories behind the convention-defying homes. Design lessons are gleaned from each home—some examples of environmentally aware construction with applicable tips for use in more mainstream scenarios. Handmade Houses is an important and relevant volume to be appreciated by anyone interested in environmentally friendly design, craft, and the expression of personal style in the home.  

The Natural Building Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to Integrative Design and Construction--Instructional DVD Included

The Natural Building Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to Integrative Design and Construction--Instructional DVD Included Review

A State-of-the-Art Resource for Natural Builders that is a part of The Yestermorrow Design/Build Library and includes an instructional DVD

Natural buildings not only bring satisfaction to their makers and joy to their occupants, they also leave the gentlest footprint on the environment. In this complete reference to natural building philosophy, design, and technique, Jacob Deva Racusin and Ace McArleton walk builders through planning and construction, offering step-by-step instructions on:

• siting and site analysis
• choosing materials
• integrating basic structural considerations into a design
• strategies for heating/cooling efficiency and moisture management
• planning for acoustics
• developing an integrative design
• navigating budgeting, code compliance, and project management
• creating the foundation, wall system, roof, and floors
• selecting and making plasters and paints
• evaluating options for mechanical and utility systems
• protecting against fire and insects
• integrating structures within landscape, climate, and human communities

...and more

Applicable to building in climates that are cold and wet, hot and dry, or somewhere in-between, The Natural Building Companion provides the tools necessary to understand basic principles of building science, including structural and thermal engineering, and hydrodynamics. This guide offers thorough, up-to-date, and advanced installation details and performance characteristics of straw-bale, straw-clay, woodchip-clay, and cellulose wall systems, as well as earthen and stone wall systems and a variety of framing, roofing, flooring, mechanical system, and finishing options. This fully-illustrated volume informs professionals making the transition from conventional building, homeowners embarking on their own construction, or green builders who want comprehensive guidance on natural-building options.

The Natural Building Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to Integrative Design and Construction

The Natural Building Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to Integrative Design and Construction Review

A State-of-the-Art Resource for Natural Builders

Natural buildings not only bring satisfaction to their makers and joy to their occupants, they also leave the gentlest footprint on the environment. In this complete reference to natural building philosophy, design, and technique, Jacob Deva Racusin and Ace McArleton walk builders through planning and construction, offering step-by-step instructions on:

• siting and site analysis
• choosing materials
• integrating basic structural considerations into a design
• strategies for heating/cooling efficiency and moisture management
• planning for acoustics
• developing an integrative design
• navigating budgeting, code compliance, and project management
• creating the foundation, wall system, roof, and floors
• selecting and making plasters and paints
• evaluating options for mechanical and utility systems
• protecting against fire and insects
• integrating structures within landscape, climate, and human communities

...and more

Applicable to building in climates that are cold and wet, hot and dry, or somewhere in-between, The Natural Building Companion provides the tools necessary to understand basic principles of building science, including structural and thermal engineering, and hydrodynamics. This guide offers thorough, up-to-date, and advanced installation details and performance characteristics of straw-bale, straw-clay, woodchip-clay, and cellulose wall systems, as well as earthen and stone wall systems and a variety of framing, roofing, flooring, mechanical system, and finishing options. This fully-illustrated volume informs professionals making the transition from conventional building, homeowners embarking on their own construction, or green builders who want comprehensive guidance on natural-building options.

The book, part of the The Yestermorrow Design/Build Library, is accompanied by an instructional DVD.

Your Natural Home: A Complete Sourcebook and Design Manual for Creating a Healthy, Beautiful, Environmentally Sensitive House

Your Natural Home: A Complete Sourcebook and Design Manual for Creating a Healthy, Beautiful, Environmentally Sensitive House Review

Drawing upon the expertise of one of the world's premier designers of ecologically sensitive houses, this unique guide provides both inspiration and practical advice for creating a natural, more energy-efficient home. The heart of the book is a compendium of 2,000 building, remodeling and decorating products. Detailed illustrations & informative sidebars.

The Healthy Home Handbook: Eco-Friendly Design

The Healthy Home Handbook: Eco-Friendly Design Review

Essential for anyone wanting to create a home that is stylish and environmentally sound.

Housing and the Urban Environment: A Guide to Housing Design, Renewal and Urban Planning

Housing and the Urban Environment: A Guide to Housing Design, Renewal and Urban Planning Review

Looking ahead to the next decade, this book examines the kinds of dwellings likely to be needed, and considers key housing issues, including quality, design standards, urban-growth management, and a renewal of public housing. It provides a review of theory, research findings and trends for students and practitioners in the fields of housing management, town planning, urban studies and architecture.

Backyards: A Sunset Design Guide

Backyards: A Sunset Design Guide Review

All the latest ideas on design and materials, along with essential landscaping advice from professional garden designers, so that you can create a uniquely livable backyard.

Expert designers | Experienced design and landscaping professionals help you get the backyard you want on the budget you can afford

Real-world solutions | Pro-designed patios and gardens show the best ways to pull all the elements together to create a cohesive, comfortable space

At a glance | Clear, concise charts make it easy to choose materials based on appearance, durability, ease of installation, and price

Go green | The latest information on green materials, water conservation, and safety issues

Your Natural Home: A Complete Sourcebook and Design Manual for Creating a Healthy, Beautiful, Environmentally Sensitive House

Your Natural Home: A Complete Sourcebook and Design Manual for Creating a Healthy, Beautiful, Environmentally Sensitive House Review

Drawing upon the expertise of one of the world's premier designers of ecologically sensitive houses, this unique guide provides both inspiration and practical advice for creating a natural, more energy-efficient home. The heart of the book is a compendium of 2,000 building, remodeling and decorating products. Detailed illustrations & informative sidebars.

Solar Home Design Manual for Cool Climates

Solar Home Design Manual for Cool Climates Review

If you want an inexpensive, environmentally sound source of energy for your home, you need look no further than the sun. Solar heat is not subject to rate increases, is totally renewable, pollution free and requires little or no technology. It is here for you today, and can easily provide up to 50% of your space and water heating requirements. This is a book that simply and clearly explains the principles of using solar energy to heat your home. Anyone building a new home, or renovating an old one can incorporate one or several aspects of solar energy into their design. Taking you through the process of designing a solar home from the ground up this manual is also a basic course in conservation and sustainable house design. If you live in a 'heating' climate, meaning if you have space heating requirements for most of the year then this is an invaluable resource. A house is the biggest single investment most of us will make in our lives - the way it is built and how it operates can reflect a long term investment in both the building and the planet.

The Passive Solar House: Using Solar Design to Heat and Cool Your Home (Real Goods Independent Living Book)

The Passive Solar House: Using Solar Design to Heat and Cool Your Home (Real Goods Independent Living Book) Review

This book offers a technique for building homes that heat and cool themselves in a wide range of different climates, using ordinary building materials available anywhere and with methods familiar to all building contractors and many do-it-yourselfers. A formerly patented design for author James Kachadorian's Solar Slab heat exchanger is now available for the use of anyone motivated by the desire to build a house that needs a backup furnace or air conditioner rarely if ever. This is a building book for the next century. Applicable to a diversity of regions, climates, budgets, and styles of architecture, Kachadorian's techniques translate the essentials of timeless solar design (siting a home in harmony with nature, using windows as solar collectors, achieving year-round comfort by balancing good insulation with healthy supplies of fresh air) into practical wisdom for today's new generation of solar builders.