Selected articles originally presented at the Vernacular Architecture Forum conference in Duluth, Minnesota (2002) and Newport Rhode Island (2001).

Building Powerful Learning Environments takes a close look at the trends of the Post-Digital Era through the prism of how systems of education can meet the needs of our times and offers a systemic approach to creating a different canvas for learning that aligns to these changes. At the center of the book are the concepts of a learning environment and a culture of partnerships. A learning environment has traditionally been viewed as something that educators created and sustained inside their schools. Building Powerful Learning Environments expands this understanding to embrace families, communities, other learning institutions, and businesses not as helpers, but as co-builders of a powerful learning environment. It demonstrates that schools have to take the first step in this direction by becoming the center of a new educational culture - a culture of partnerships. This book looks into various ways of creating this culture at district, school, and classroom levels. It provides practical guidance, strategies, and tips as well as some conceptual understanding of what can be done to create and support this culture at various levels of educational leadership.

Building Product Models thoroughly presents the concepts, technology, and methods now used to work out what will become the building product model - a new, digital representation for architecture, civil engineering, and building construction. Organized into three sections (history, current tools and concepts, and existing efforts and research issues), this resource provides the field of building product modeling with a standard reference as well as a single, comprehensive text for university courses. Until now, all the efforts in building modeling have been reported in research journals and conference proceedings or been made available as draft standards on the Internet. Building Product Models is the only book available on this vital field, bringing together essential aspects of major efforts from the early 1970s to the present.

Showcases 45 recent buildings designed for challenging environments, giving valuable insights into the extremes of architectural thinking. Futhermore, in an increasingly unstable world, some of the lessons they teach about self-sufficiency may yet become more generally applicable.

Reyner Banham was a pioneer in arguing that technology, human needs, and environmental concerns must be considered an integral part of architecture. No historian before him had so systematically explored the impact of environmental engineering on the design of buildings and on the minds of architects. In this revision of his classic work, Banham has added considerable new material on the use of energy, particularly solar energy, in human environments. Included in the new material are discussions of Indian pueblos and solar architecture, the Centre Pompidou and other high-tech buildings, and the environmental wisdom of many current architectural vernaculars.

This well-illustrated 'think piece' provides a much needed and topical philosophical introduction to the place of environmental design in architecture. Written by highly respected authors, this is an excellent guide for practitioners, students and academics.