{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.017829457364341085, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0007751937984496124, 'mean_word_length': 5.4525, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Alternative energy systems in building design (A GreenSource Book) by Peter Gevorkian

Torben Dahl (for the Institute of Architectural technology, School of Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) extols the part that climate should take in giving form to architecture and laments the current vogue for technical quick fixes to the more fundamental environmental problems that have, in the past, been the subject of a vast quantity of knowledge accumulated over the generations. ‘The neglect of climate as one of the key drivers in giving form to architecture has resulted in buildings today being characterised by conflict between globalization’s universal architectural expression and the contextual imperatives based on local culture and climatic conditions’. The book addresses the architectural challenge of designing buildings, and especially their external envelopes or climate screens, to maximise the potential of local climatic conditions and their associated construction traditions in order to save energy and (most important in my view) give users the means to control their own environment. The book deals with principles and their associated application in historic and contemporary architecture; aiming to avoid presenting too much technical data which, in any case, is available elsewhere. With five sections: the architectural potential of climate; climate and comfort; adaptation and control; climate themes and physiological architecture divided into 10 chapters the book closes with a list of illustrations, a three page bibliography and a five page index. The name Vitruvius is mentioned on a number of occasions, illustrating the depth that the authors have gone to in order to explain the workings of climatecentred architecture and its relation to history. All too often we concentrate on heat loss (or gain) without looking at the associated parameters, such as moisture movement: Peter Sorensen has a whole chapter on humidity and precipitation. Other climate themes are: hot and cold; wind and ventilation and light and shadow. Despite invoking Vitruvius and looking at traditional construction around the world, many modern examples of both highand low-tech architecture are cited. This beautifully designed and illustrated book is an excellent introduction for any student of architecture or environmental engineering – whether at university, in practice or merely as a lay person, to the concept of climatic architecture: the concept that the environment as a whole should inform the design of our buildings and I heartily recommend it.