Eco Living Japan by Deanna MacDonald

Eco Living Japan: Sustainable Ideas for Living Green by Deanna MacDonald

Summary
Japan is equally as well known for its ecologically-sensitive traditional homes as it is for cutting-edge, green technology.

Eco Living Japan presents 19 contemporary Japanese houses which exemplify the most recent trends in sustainable design in Japan. This is wabi-sabi for the 21st century!

With over 250 photos, drawings, plans and lively, informative text, this sustainable architecture book offers a picture of green living in contemporary Japan and provides inspiration and practical ideas for those creating homes in North America and other 4 season climates. Each project presents different aspects of Japan's current movement toward a more sustainable living environment as well as its focus on fine craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology.

The book's content is informative and enjoyable for both professional architects and forward-thinking homeowners. Anyone with an interest in Japanese design and trends in sustainable living will find fresh ideas for their own home projects. These homes work in harmony with their environments and with the people who inhabit them— "green design" at its best!

Impressions

With a rich architectural beautiful past added to a Zen Philosophy, Japan always made me dream with its serene and peaceful houses.

Full of lightness, flexible and open towards the exterior into beautiful garden. I love the minimalistic way of using the surfaces, nothing is waste.



This book tell you about the contradictions of Japan with cities full of buildings but an intense use of recycling too that have raised quickly after 1945 to find housing solutions after the war. Constructions that lose their values after 15 to 20 years, people who doesn’t think that buying an house is a good investment or a lot of japanese apartments left empty. You learn also why the Japanese are used to impermanence because of the many earthquakes.

It’s a great way to see Japan houses and all the possibilities and creative ideas you can imagine to live in a more sustainable way.
Not because it’s a marketing trend but because it’s a good way to stay in touch with yourself, the nature around and stay grounded to was is important.

A really cool book about architecture and Japan but also on worldwide architects who are inspired to build houses in the Japanese styles.

Quotes

« I do not know the meaning of ‘Green Architect’. I have no interest in ‘Green Eco’, and ‘Environmentally Friendly’. I just hate wasting things ».
Shigeru Ban

"This book is one more step forward towards a holistic understanding of Sustainable Design. Not as a simple matter of technology, but as a broad civic responsibility: for ecological and economic improvement, for social integration and cultural adequacy."
—Jana Revedin, professor of Architecture and Design and Founding President of the LOCUS Foundation for Sustainable Urban Development 

About the author
Deanna MacDonald teaches art and architectural history at Temple University's Tokyo campus and writes extensively about Japan's art, architecture and cultural heritage. Her most recent book was New Japan Architecture published by Tuttle.


Source
*Arc provided by Edelweiss
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.