Synopses & Reviews
Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan present a vision of how the living world and the human world can be rejoined by taking ecology as the basis for design. Ecological design intelligence-effective adaptation to and integration with nature's processes-can be applied at all levels of scale, creating revolutionary forms of buildings, landscapes, cities, and technologies.
The authors weave together case studies, personal anecdotes, images, and theory to provide a thorough treatment of the concept of ecological design. In the process, they present and explain a series of design principles that can help build a sustainable world with increased efficiency, fewer toxics, less pollution, and healthier natural systems.
Review
"With vision and coherence, Van der Ryn and Cowan lay the basis for a new philosophy and practice of design. Ecological Design expands and enriches the nexus of human and natural systems."
Review
"…Ecological Design is one of the most important design books in 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."
Review
"…
Ecological Design is one of the most important design books in 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."
Alex Wilson - Editor and Publisher, Environmental Building News
Review
"Visionary…. Van der Ryn and Cowan delight in showing us each detail of transforming both consciousness and substance from 'dumb design' (environmentally wasteful) to ecological design."
Review
"…an elegant and readable book that ought to become a required text in architecture and planning schools…"
Review
"Ecological Design...is not a book about things, but rather one about systems, patterns, context, integration, and ultimately about vision, which is where good design begins. To say that Ecological Design deserves a large readership in the late years of the twentieth century is a bit like saying that folks on the Titanic needed lifeboats."
About the Author
Sim Van der Ryn is professor emeritus in the department of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.
Stuart Cowan, who received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, is principal of Ecological Design Team.