EA Books

The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design
editors: Sandra F. Mendler, William Odell, Mary Ann Lazarus
2005, ISBN: 0471696137, 480 pages, $123.95

We live in a rapidly changing world, where the scale of change will require ten to twenty-fold eco-efficiency improvements to achieve meaningful reductions in environmental stress’ [1] . As professionals across built environment disciplines grapple with the implications of global warming and peak oil, it is critical that we have access to tools to ease the transition. Interestingly, it is the architecture profession that has most recently provided the lead in raising the benchmark.

As one of the world’s largest architectural firms, Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK) design almost $US 5 billion in new construction and renovation each year. The recent revision of HOK’s publication on sustainable design is an example of a global company that has invested significant resources to create new approaches for the changing needs of the built environment. Rather than guarding this intellectual property against commercial use by competitors, the company have collaborated with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to release the work to the built environment industry. HOK sees this as an opportunity to bring their competitors up to speed, allowing the company to further innovate and remain in their market niche. In the words of the Editors Sandra Mendler, William Odell, and Mary Ann Lazarus, ‘this book has been created to make the shift to sustainable design easier.’

First published in 1995 as an in-house publication for employees, the guidebook was then released publicly in 1998 and revised in 2005. While the 1998 version is still applicable, the 2006 edition provides a significant update of the company’s corporate knowledge. The Design Guide builds on from popular publications including ‘Biomimicry’ [2] , ‘Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate’ [3] , ‘Ecology of Commerce’ [4] and ‘Natural Capitalism’ [5] . With updated case studies from around the world including Stadium Australia, the publication includes a 10 step process of sustainable design, using checklists to highlight important issues to be addressed at each stage. The improved layout also facilitates easy reference to the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system.

The 2006 release includes forewords by renowned authors and businessmen Paul Hawken (President, Natural Capitalism Institute) and Ray Anderson (CEO, Interface Carpets). Hawken writes, ‘The guide is a testament to the rapid transformation of the largest industrial sector in the world – the built environment’. Anderson comments that, ‘HOK has been engaged in an experiment over a period of 12 years: to transform the practice of architecture, to truly be “leaders in innovation” for the built environment. HOK’s goal is to influence their entire body of work as a firm, to move their projects and the profession as a whole toward sustainable design’.

In summary, the HOK Design Guide is an engaging, well-referenced and systematic exploration of opportunities in the sustainable design process. Although published by a predominantly architectural consultancy, the content is of critical importance and relevance to the built environment profession in providing well tested methodologies for profitably addressing sustainable design. The publication is international in context and content but equally applicable to the Australian built environment industry. It would be a beneficial addition to the built environment professional’s library as a core design text.

The authors invite the readers to join them in creating sustainable buildings and communities, because ‘we believe that this work is essential to creating better environments for people – now and for future generations’. Although the book is perhaps more expensive than the average textbook, it provides significant opportunity for today’s design professionals to add value to their design services.

The 1998 edition has also been referenced in Chapter 18 “Greening the Built Environment” of the reviewers’ publication ‘The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21^st Century’.

Reviewers: Cheryl Paten (Lecturer, Griffith University School of Engineering; Education Coordinator, The Natural Edge Project); and Karlson ‘Charlie’ Hargroves (Project Coordinator, The Natural Edge Project, www.naturaledgeproject.net).

The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design is available from EA Books http://www.engineersmedia.com.au/bookshop

[1] Leo Jensen, Chairman, Dutch Inter-ministerial, Sustainable Technology Development Program 2000

[2] Benyus, J (1997) ‘Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature’ William Morrow, New York.

[3] Wilson , A, Uncapher, J, McManigal, L, Lovins, H, Cureton, M and Browning, W (1998) Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate, Rocky Mountain Institute, John Wiley and Sons Inc.

[4] Hawken, P (1993) The Ecology of Commerce. HarperBusiness, 1993;

[5] Hawken, Paul and A. Lovins (1999). Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York, Little brown & Company.