Subtitled “a complete sourcebook for the home and office” this book contains examples of good eco‐friendly design. The introduction discusses the faults and wastefulness in the current approach to consumer products, and the need to convert to eco‐design. A brief account of the start of this movement and some of the major organisations is given. The introduction ends with a manifesto for eco‐pluralistic design, which has 14 points. One of these is to publish the designs in the public domain, so this book lives up to this point. Other points cover the use of renewable resources and solar energy, and recycle‐ability; concepts one would expect to find. But other points cover broader aspects such as communal benefits, educating the purchaser in eco‐design, modularity to permit further purchases and equalisation of wealth.
The examples, which make up the bulk of the book, are divided into objects for living and objects for working. The first covers objects like furniture, textiles and fashion, and leisure and recreation. The second covers office equipment, public space and architecture. Transport is covered in both sections, with bicycles and cars in the first and planes and ships in the second. The third section deals with materials like surface coatings, textiles polymers and structural materials. The last section is Resources, address and information on designers, manufacturers and green organisations, together with a glossary and a reading list. There is also a very full index. For each of the objects in the first three sections there is a picture and a description and a summary box giving information on the designer, the manufacturer, the materials used, the specific eco‐design features and any eco‐design awards.
Some ideas greatly impressed me, like solar powered ferries for inland waterways and much of the public space design and the buildings. Amongst the objects for living there are some that I would like to own, or find interesting; there are a few I would not give house room to. But each will make his or her own choice, and the book would have failed to be comprehensive if everyone liked everything. Designers will learn eco‐design concepts from this book, and those who design space, be they offices, open spaces or their own homes, can choose items from this book. Libraries and information resources in colleges and commercial practices will find this a useful addition to stock. It is also a good public library book. I am a great believer in cataloguing books on the basis of why you want them rather than why the author wrote them, and would recommend that in local libraries this book goes with the home decorating books rather than the professional arts or with the “green” books somewhere in biology. My review copy will go with the urban design books, because I will use it mainly in my involvement with local amenity groups.
