A comprehensive examination of American vernacular buildings.

The complete resource on performing sustainable renovations for both Historic and modern existing buildings This forward-looking and insightful guide explores how the sustainable renovation of existing buildings presents great opportunities for initiating extensive changes in the performance of the built environment. Great examples of existing building upgrades are examined, illustrating how to do sustainable renovations, along with current design approaches for radically improving the functionality of existing prewar, postwar, and late modern buildings. Sustainable Renovation saves its key focus for institutional and commercial buildings, but discusses the challenges they pose within a global scope that encompasses all building practices. Some of the discussions in this book include: The significance of energy and resource demands by the building sector and the urgency of reducing loads in existing buildings Management, design, and construction approaches to achieve major modernization in occupied buildings International case studies that focus on methods and benefits of successful sustainable transformations of existing building performance Repurposing buildings to preserve style and add performance remains a work in progress as designers and builders discover new methods for improving sustainable practices and standards. With incremental modernization and operations strategies available for immediate implementation, this book demonstrates the different ways of thinking necessary when considering and attempting the integration of sustainable concepts into existing buildings—and enables readers to rethink the world that's built around them.

"This book is designed for architects and engineers who need to evaluate existing buildings for a new use or for continuing a current use. It details each step of the evaluation process using an easy-to-follow and easy-to-implement approach that greatly reduces the possibility of unexpected costs and setbacks. Moreover, the book covers every part of the building itself, from interior and exterior structures to systems and materials." "Illustrations throughout the book will help you visualize and perform key procedures. In addition, the authors examine building evaluation issues for structures of different scales, such as medium and small commercial structures and residential buildings." "Most important, the authors help you assess the financial viability of a proposed adaptive reuse or preservation project, helping you and potential investors decide whether the proposed project offers a desired return on investment."--Jacket.