The Sustainable Hardscaping Bible

In Berkeley, California, Leger Wanaselja Architecture specializes in ecological design.  They used burned (but uncharred) trees from the 1991 Oakland Hills fire as fencing posts for a residential carport; and they fashioned an old truck tailgate into a garden bench. In a Washington DC project, Philadelphia landscape architects Andropogon Associates constructed a deck made from old harbor pilings and benches made from used wine caskets. 

These are just a few of the projects illustrating an exciting new wave in ecological landscape architecture in Materials for Sustainable Sites: A Complete Guide to the Evaluation, Selection, and Use of Sustainable Construction Materials (John Wiley & Sons, 2008) by Meg Calkins, LEED AP. Calkins, with master's degrees in landscape architecture and architecture from the University of California, Berkelely, has long been involved in evaluating sustainable site materials to comply with the US Green Building Council's LEED^TM (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) system.

In this new book, Calkins tells you everything you need to know about materials for sustainable design. She says, for instance, that new "green" materials are not always the answer. Instead, it might be better to use a conventional, tried and true material in a new green way. As Calkins puts it in the introduction, the book will equip the reader with "techniques to evaluate and minimize the environmental and human health impacts of materials and products for a particular clilmate, application, and location."

I liked her "Strategies for Building a Longer-lasting Deck" -- just one page long, the section on designing with reclaimed wood, the "Guidelines for Design and Fabrication of Durable Metal Structures" and specifying bricks from manufacturers who minimize environmental damage.  The book is actually divided into two parts -- the first introduces the tools, techniques, and resources for evaluating and specifying sustainable materials.  The second part of the book devotes separate chapters to both conventional and emerging green materials:  concrete, earthen materials, brick, asphalt paving, aggregates and stone, wood, metals, plastics and rubber.

This book is certain to become the classic reference for all designers and builders who want to pursue creative design in a way that will help protect the planet.

(click on text link to purchase book)

Comments

[Zach Goebelt]

Refering to the previous comment, I believe the most sustainable solutions are often times the simplest ones.
I think looking at specific low embodied energy building materials would be the answer. Stone harvested from local quarries can make one of the best building materials because of its durability and low embodied energy qualities.
The best example is dry stone masonry where stones are fit together without mortar. This method does not envolve deep footers and requires very very little maintenance.
The real trick to implementing this sort of building process is finding skilled dry stone masons to build these structures.
Try www.drystone.org
or www.outdoorinstallation.com

[Susan Morrison]

Some of the examples of creative sustainability sound intriguing, but I wonder how realistic it is for the average homeowner to turn a truck fender into a bench. As in all things, the easier it is to implement a postitive change, the more likely we are to do so.

Your post makes a brief mention of concrete, and in many new residential installations, an old concrete patio or driveway is jackhammered out to make way for the new. Keeping the concrete slabs on site rather than hauling them to the landfill is good for the environment and saves money. Recycled concrete (urbanite) is great for retaining walls, seat walls or stepping stones, and can be stained to create a more garden friendly look. I will certainly check The Sustainable Hardscaping Bible, and hope it offers simple solutions and practical options in addition to more exotic ones.