George Baird

Current assessment methods of sustainable buildings do not adequately account for the users' needs. Given that over the life of a building, total salary costs far outweigh both operating costs and combined capital and rental costs, the occupants' needs are not something which should be sensibly ignored.This book presents an unbiased evaluation of thirty of the most cutting-edge, sustainable buildings in the world, in terms of the users' perceived comfort, health and productivity. The author has visited the buildings, interviewed the design teams and examined the findings of a sixty-question standardized user questionnaire. The book provides:• thirty case studies covering mixed-mode, passive and environmentally sustainable commercial and institutional buildings • detailed insights into the principles underlying the design of sustainable buildings worldwide, over several climatic zones and eleven countries, together with clear explanations and illustrations of innovative design practice• a discussion of common issues and the lessons that may be learnt from a study of the performance of sustainable buildings in practice, from the point of view of the people who use them.This important book will be of great benefit to architects and engineers, facility managers of commercial and institutional buildings, as well as developers and researchers, academics and students in these fields.

This book deals with the concerns of everyone involved with the use of energy in buildings. It is written principle for those with a direct professional interest in the energy performance of buildings.

Dear Rita is a love story gleaned from the letters of a young Marine during World War II. These letters, and the hand-drawn illustrations on the accompanying envelopes, give a uniquely candid look into the passionate love and steadfast devotion that kept this Marine going in the throes of war. Preserved for 70 years, the letters were kept private, read only by George and Rita, until Rita's passing in 2014.Now, the abridged letters - supplemented with anecdotes from George's own oral history of the war, as well as helpful annotation and historical context from George and Rita's youngest son - give us a firsthand look at the origins of an inspiring, lifelong love.

Hardcover in box: Concrete Ideas: Material to Shape a City is about possibilities in concrete architecture. It visually speculates, through a series of montages, drawings, and photographs, about concrete architecture s capacity as an urban catalyst, its capacity for defining cites and for virtuosity in urban renewal. It is another iteration of speculations begun in a graduate architecture studio at the University of Toronto, which asked: given the now mainstream nanotechnologies that transform the performance of materials at the molecular level without fundamentally changing the material aesthetic, can we anticipate and provoke a change in its inherent authority, perception, and aesthetic culture? The work uses the case of Toronto with its predominant 1960s and 1970s brutalist stock and unique minus 30 F to plus 30 F Canadian climate to test these speculations with building projects that challenge the limits of concrete performance. With contributions from architects and thinkers such as Mark West, George Baird, Will Bruder, and Charles Waldheim among others, Concrete Ideas is meant to create a seductive argument for the reconsideration of this age-old building material as supple, light, and instrumental in the re-presentation of existing concrete citizens. "

Current assessment methods of sustainable buildings do not adequately account for the users’ needs. Given that over the life of a building, total salary costs far outweigh both operating costs and combined capital and rental costs, the occupants’ needs are not something which should be sensibly ignored.This book presents an unbiased evaluation of thirty of the most cutting-edge, sustainable buildings in the world, in terms of the users’ perceived comfort, health and productivity. The author has visited the buildings, interviewed the design teams and examined the findings of a sixty-question standardized user questionnaire. The book provides:thirty case studies covering mixed-mode, passive and environmentally sustainable commercial and institutional buildings detailed insights into the principles underlying the design of sustainable buildings worldwide, over several climatic zones and eleven countries, together with clear explanations and illustrations of innovative design practicea discussion of common issues and the lessons that may be learnt from a study of the performance of sustainable buildings in practice, from the point of view of the people who use them.This important book will be of great benefit to architects and engineers, facility managers of commercial and institutional buildings, as well as developers and researchers, academics and students in these fields.

The Architectural Expression of Environmental Control Systems examines the way project teams can approach the design and expression of both active and passive environmental control systems in a more creative way. Using seminal case studies from around the world and interviews with the architects and environmental engineers involved, the book illustrates innovative responses to client, site and user requirements, focusing upon elegant design solutions to a perennial problem. This book will inspire architects, building scientists and building services engineers to take a more creative approach to the design and expression of environmental control systems - whether active or passive, whether they influence overall building form or design detail.