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(University of Washington Press, 2006)
Review by Amanda Sturgeon, AIA, Perkins + Will
 David
Miller’s book is an essential read for any architect working
on sustainable building. Those located in the Northwest gain the
most from the book, but the basic premise—that sustainable
buildings must be beautiful to be sustainable—is relevant to
readers in any location. The thesis for the book delves into the
question of how to express sustainable strategies in architectural
form.
Although this book is beautiful, with many nice architectural
images, it is also well researched and heavy on the text. David
Miller searches for a historical foundation in contemporary modern
sustainable building and finds it in the Northwest coast native
structures. The use of cedar, response to local climate and even
similarity in form to native structures becomes most apparent in
two of the case studies in the book—Cedar River Watershed
Education Center and IslandWood.
After summarizing the history and culture of the Pacific Northwest,
David Miller moves to Environmental Strategies. This section is
intelligently broken into earth, air, water and fire—suggested
as a “framework for integrated decision making.” Although
this concept is not new to most of us, this is the biggest take
home part of the book. This framework provides a clear organization
for sustainable strategies that is grounded in the natural world, a
useful reminder to any designer. The section goes into some detail
on the basic sustainable design rules of thumb, which provides a
useful reminder to seasoned designers and an excellent guide for
those new to sustainable building.
The second half of the book displays 15 projects broken into four
categories. David Miller claims that “the examples in this
book demonstrate that architectural form derives from the climate,
site and the cultural context of the region.” This could have
been better communicated by using the earth, air, water and fire
categories to analyze the projects, the new four categories into
which they are organized seems arbitrary. Nevertheless, the case
studies are all good examples of regional sustainable buildings at
different scales and on varying sites.
Ultimately this book tries to combine two ideas in one
book—case studies of sustainable buildings in the Pacific
Northwest and research demonstrating the thesis that a modernist
form created in response to regional issues creates a beautiful and
sustainable building. It is successful, but it begs for a sequel
that can delve into innovative projects in more depth. The Pacific
Northwest sustainable building community has much to teach the
sustainable building world.
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