Ecological Design Handbook: Sustainable Strategies for Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, and Planning

by Fred A. Stitt. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1999. Hardcover, 465 pages, $79.95

Ecological Design Handbook is what most of us know as a “reader,” not unlike a collection of articles that instructors often prepare for their classes. This large group of selections from previously published titles is compiled in one volume to offer, ostensibly, a complete reference on green design. Most of the chapters are quite valuable, although they vary greatly in scope, voice, and quality. On the whole, the book is a fairly useful compilation, though it is compromised by outrageous marketing hype that tries to make it into something much more grand. The back cover is packed with claims, all of which are at best exaggerations and at worst outright misinformation about what the book contains.

It is also unfortunate, especially for a title from a major publishing house, that so little effort was spent on the utilitarian things that make a book useful. It lacks an index and a glossary—and there are no page headers to differentiate one chapter from the next. The lack of photographs or high-quality drawings also detracts from its usefulness as an architectural resource.

Perhaps inevitably for any volume that strives to be comprehensive in so many fields, there are some serious omissions here. It would have been useful to include, for example, some basic principles and benchmarks that could indicate what makes a building “ecological.” Chapters on straw bale construction, various types of earth construction, even a section on tire-and-can “earth-ships” simply assume that these technologies are environmentally sound, without critical analysis or a framework on which to base that conclusion. And while the book claims to apply to all building types, the vast majority of the specific material is about houses.

Ecological Design Handbook concludes with a section on the work of various architects. Unfortunately, in many cases these sections are too short to be informative. More critical, the section as a whole seems to miss entirely the principles of teamwork and interdisciplinary design, choosing instead to feature the work of creative, solitary designers. Even when showing projects that had input from many participants, nowhere is that input acknowledged.

In spite of all these drawbacks,

Ecological Design Handbook does contain some very useful material, even some great material. Two gems are “How to Uncover the Secrets of the Land,” from a lecture by David Deppen, and a long chapter on windmill technologies by Paul Gipe, from his book

Wind Power for Home and Business. We’ll certainly keep it on hand and enjoy it, even if it does fall short of the stand-alone reference on green design that it aspires to be.