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(John Wiley 2006)
Review by Muscoe Martin, AIA, M2 Architecture
 HOK is one of
the largest architectural design firms in the country; many of
us have had to compete against them at some point in our careers.
However, we all owe that firm a huge debt of gratitude for their
recently reissued and revised Guidebook to Sustainable
Design. Do not be put off by the plain vanilla graphics or the
high price. This book should find a home on the ready reference
shelf of all architecture firms. Whether you are just getting
started in sustainable design or are already an experienced green
architect, you’ll find a ton of useful information in
HOK’s Guidebook.
A lot has happened in the field of green design since the first
edition of the Guidebook was published in 2000. That version grew
out of an internal document that was HOK’s attempt to capture
and share their own early work in sustainable design and to provide
their own designers with a “desktop reference” and
knowledge base. It was commendable that they were willing to share
their own initial research and experiences available to the
profession at large. Now, in the updated version, they have gone
even further. Whereas the first edition focused heavily on the
technical strategies and material choices related to designing for
energy and resource efficiency, the new Guidebook greatly expands
the discussion of the design process. The section titled The New
Design Process is one of the best descriptions of integrated design
available today.
Other design process sections include descriptions of important
sustainable design tasks such as Commissioning and Energy
Optimization. The descriptions not only demystify these often
unfamiliar services but could also be used to create a scope of
work for specialty consultants. Other useful data include a helpful
summary of energy simulation programs, a listing of common chemical
substances to avoid in materials selection and a short concise
specification guide organized by CSI section.
The new version’s Case Studies are much expanded with more
built projects than before. In perhaps HOK’s boldest move, for
several completed projects they have included an honest and
revealing description of how each building has been performing,
including actual performance data on energy use, maintenance costs,
etc. This sharing of what is working—and what is not—is
crucial for the field of sustainable design to progress beyond
optimistic and well-intentioned design solutions.
HOK is to be commended for beginning this necessary dialogue of
shared data as well as producing this extremely useful
Guidebook.
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