Culture, Architecture and Nature An Ecological Design Retrospective

About this book

Gathering his most compelling essays and addresses from the last fifty years in one accessible volume, Culture, Architecture and Nature looks at the pioneering ideas that underpin Sim Van der Ryn's ecological design philosophy. It offers a unique decade-by-decade retrospective of the key issues in environmental design, beginning with the most recent years and looking back to the 1960s. With an introductory chapter and further recommended reading for each decade, Culture, Architecture and Nature is key reading for any architect or designer practising today, and students will find a wealth of knowledge with which to support their studies. The author's beautiful illustrations, painted in a corresponding timescale to the chapters, offer further insight into the way he understands the challenges of humanity's stewardship of our planet.

Contents

Introduction: Nature's Mad as Hell

Part 1: The Two-Thousands and Beyond: A New Radicalism.
1. 'Transformation', Keynote, Cascadia Green Building Council, Seattle 2009
2. Athena Award Reception Speech, Congress for the New Urbanism, San Francisco 2008
3. Keynote, Environmental Design Research Association, Sacramento 2007
4. 'Greening Campuses, Greening Education', Los Angeles 2006
5. For Further Reading: The Decade's Seminal Books

Part 2: The Nineties: Integrating the Ecologies of Nature, Culture and Humans
6. Keynote, Solar Energy Association of Oregon, Portland 1999
7. 'Healthy Building', Resurgence Magazine, 1993
8. Keynote, Ecological Cities Conference, Los Angeles 1991
9. Christopher Alexander and Sim Van der Ryn: a Dialogue, Esalen Institute Big Sur 1991
10. For Further Reading: The Decade's Seminal Books

Part 3: The Eighties: The Lost Decade
11. 'Integral Design', Sausalito 1988
12. 'The Next Urban Transformation', Sausality 1985
13. 'Little America', Le Monde, 1981
14. For Further Reading: The Decade's Seminal Books

Part 4: The Seventies: The Environmental Awakening and Response
15. Bateson Building Dedication, Sacramento 1979
16. 'Ecotopia Now', New Age Journal, 1979
17. 'The Coming of Age of Natural Design', L'Architecture d'Ajourd'hui, 1975
18. For Further Reading: The Decade's Seminal Books

Part 5: The Sixties: Questioning the Dominant World View, Ethos, and Paradigm
19. 'Building a People's Park', Berkeley 1969
20. 'Problems and Puzzles', AIA Journal, 1966
21. For Further Reading: The Decade's Seminal Books

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Biography

Sim Van der Ryn is the president of EcoDesign Collaborative, a Northern California firm known for its pioneering work in integral design. For over 30 years he taught architecture and design at the University of California, Berkeley, inspiring a new generation to create buildings and communities that are sensitive to place, climate, and the flow of human interactions. As California State Architect in the seventies he was responsible for designing and building the first series of groundbreaking energy efficient, people-friendly, climate responsive government buildings. He is the author of six groundbreaking books about planning and design, which have helped inspire architects to see the myriad ways they can apply physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design. Van der Ryn lives in the San Francisco Bay area.