Green Building Envelopes: The Latest in Eco-Friendly Architecture

In the face of climate change, architecture must transcend traditional boundaries to address pressing environmental and social challenges. This volume explores the transformative potential of a visionary approach that seamlessly integrates plants and greenery into architectural design. By redefining buildings as living systems, these concepts enhance air quality, provide acoustic insulation, optimize energy efficiency, and create thriving oases of biodiversity.

From lush rooftop gardens to verdant façades and planted interiors, the featured projects showcase how innovative architects and designers are reimagining the relationship between nature, people, and the built environment. The book highlights the diverse ways organic resources are being incorporated into contemporary constructions and how they serve as independent planning elements and design features, often in synergy with cutting-edge building technologies. With case studies from around the globe, this book celebrates the beauty, functionality, and necessity of green building envelopes in shaping sustainable, vibrant cities.

The book is intended to awaken an appetite for green architecture; a catalog of successful project examples shows in detail how the design and practical implementation of greened builidng exteriors can succeed around the globe.

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For some time now, climate change has been a major concern that has also led to a rethinking of construction worldwide. Cities in particular aim to become 'greener' to improve their quality of life. The most exciting and most visible strategy in this regard is undoubtedly the planting of roofs, facades and courtyards.

This volume presents impressive and promising concepts and projects from around the world, which explore the potential of greened building envelopes. In addition to their importance in heavy rainfall management, planted building exteriors reduce CO2 emissions, bind pollutants, provide acoustic insulation, absorb UV rays, and optimize energy efficiency while they lastingly improve the local microclimate. The focus of this book is on the diverse ways in which organic materials are used in construction today and how they can function as independent planning elements and design factors also in combination with new and innovative building technologies.

About the Author:

After completing a degree in architecture in architecture Sibylle Kramer worked for gmp von Gerkan, Marg and Partners in different functions, such as Chief Representative in Beijing. In 2001 she set up her successfull architecture practice in Hamburg which has received various awards and competition prizes. Kramer is also a frequent participant on selection committees for architectural com