Ecological Design

by Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan. Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1996. 200 pages; hardcover $40.00; paperback $19.95.

Coauthors Van der Ryn and Cowan define ecological design as design that “minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes.” Ecology, they argue, should be the basis of design; it is nature’s own design strategies we find when we seek to minimize environmental impacts.

In the book’s introduction, the concept of “natural capital” is described. We are drawing down that capital with our conventional design practices. Ecological design offers three strategies for dealing with the loss of natural capital: conservation, regeneration, and stewardship. Conservation permits us to stretch resources further by improving energy efficiency, recycling materials, and clustering our buildings on a piece of land to conserve open space. Regeneration is the rebuilding of natural capital through the restoration of damaged ecosystems and communities. Stewardship is “the wisdom to live on renewable interest rather than eating into natural capital.”

Ecological design is described as a new way of seeing and thinking about design. For example, a chapter titled “Nature’s Geometry” reviews the importance of linking scales: “What we do at one scale has subtle impacts, both negative and positive, at many other scales. Scale linking reminds us of the wider environmental consequences of our designs.” By not paying attention to the different scales we affect, we are endangering the stability of the planet, the authors argue.

Much of the book addresses the authors’ five principles of ecological design. The first principle is that

solutions grow from place. Intimately knowing a place is described as the starting point for ecological design. This can involve examining local traditions and folklore, exploring the local topography, soils, water, climate, flora, and fauna, and studying the vernacular architecture that evolved in response to these conditions. Examples are used to illustrate how solutions can grow from place, including the work of Pliny Fisk in Austin, Texas, who has championed the idea that we first need to understand what our geographic region, or biome, offers in the way of local, indigenous resources, then figure out how to use them in a sustainable manner.

The second principle is that

ecological accounting informs design. Ecological design “asks us to explicitly consider the environmental impacts of everything we include in a design, from the energy use of a building to the toxicity of a product.” This accounting then influences the design. By understanding the laws of thermodynamics and the concept that, during manufacture, materials which do not end up in finished products contribute to the waste stream, we can design better buildings and products.

Life-cycle analysis is a way of examining impacts of a material, not only over its useful life, but also during manufacture and disposal.

The third principle,

design with nature, states that the most environmentally responsible designs are integrally linked with nature. The concept of “waste equals food” is described through the example of industrial ecology—the wastes of one industry can and should be the raw materials of another. By matching these industries we “close the loop” and greatly reduce environmental impacts. Waste exchanges provide one mechanism for accomplishing this (see

EBN

Vol. 2, No. 3). More fundamentally, industries can link up, as illustrated by an industrial facility in Kalundborg, Denmark, where an electric power plant, oil refinery, pharmaceutical plant, wallboard factory, sulfuric acid producer, commercial greenhouses, aquaculture operations, and homes are all integrated, using each other’s waste products as resources. Constructed wetlands, “living machine” waste­water treatment systems, and bioremediation of toxic wastes through biological systems are used to illustrate the concept of designing with nature.

The book’s fourth principle is that

everyone is a designer—that to succeed with ecological design, we all need to be involved. “Design is far too important to be left solely to designers,” say the authors. While expertise is important, the entire society needs to be involved in finding solutions. Sustain­ability is called a “cultural process rather than an expert one.” Following a scathing critique of architectural education, the authors summarize suggestions from forward-thinking educators Donald Watson and David Orr as to how we could turn things around. But we need to do more than simply change architectural school curricula, the authors suggest in describing an ecological design curriculum for preschool through twelfth grade at a California school. The participatory process that was used by the city of Missoula to solve its wood-stove pollution problem is used as an example of how everyone can participate in ecological design.

The final principle is to

make nature visible. “Our environments—whether they are sprawling malls or wild rivers—are the most powerful teachers we have.” Buildings, the authors suggest, should serve to reconnect us to the natural environment and, in doing so, they will change the way we relate to nature—”design transforms awareness.” Just as nature is hidden from most of our modern design, so too is technology. We need to make technology visible again and, in the process, we will produce technologies that are more environmentally responsible—for example, stormwater management systems that are above-ground and functional parts of our landscapes.

If we find faults with

Ecological Design they are that the book is not well illustrated and is written on too intellectual a level. The subject would lend itself well to a visual presentation of a few of the many inspiring examples of ecological design being practiced today. Through more effective use of images, the book could also present more of a how-to sense of what ecological design is all about. Such treatment would further extend the reader’s awareness of this vitally important design priority—and improve the book’s usefulness.

These minor concerns aside,

Ecological Design is one of the most important design books of the past few years. It is a ground-breaking book that will change the way we think about buildings, agriculture, industrial processes, and our management of resources and wastes.