Materials An Environmental Primer

The environmental impacts of construction are momentous. How can architects minimise these by making responsible material choices? Material choices have a global impact. The design and construction industry are responsible for 39% of all carbon emissions in the world. Despite the great desire among architects to address this it can be difficult to compare materials directly let alone understand the repercussions of selecting materials for use in different parts of a building or of sourcing them from across the world. Showcasing the latest thought leadership from subject experts across the industry this primer sets out the various considerations and parameters for specifying a particular material. It empowers architects with the knowledge of which materials are available how best to use them and what their future holds as the industry continues to innovate. Each chapter will be devoted to a single material and will consider environmental impacts holistically looking at health and biodiversity impacts among other issues. Featuring: Chapters written by subject experts including: Duncan Baker-Brown Carol Costello Graham Coult Barbara Jones Rowland Keable Bruce Martin Michael Stacey and Oliver Wilton. Mainstream and burgeoning materials including: aluminium bamboo brick concrete cork hemp mycelium plastics steel stone and timber. Diagrams graphics and illustrated exemplars. |Materials An environmental primer