New Natural Home: Designs for Sustainable Living

by Dominic Bradbury, Richard Powers (Photographer)

Our houses can be seen as living, breathing entities, extensions of ourselves and our families. This carefully considered publication provides the design inspiration to build and live in domestic spaces in a balanced, natural, sustainable way.


With the demands of all contemporary dwellings in mind—whether they’re found in the city, suburbs, or country—Dominic Bradbury considers the design basics one must follow in order to coexist with the planet’s resources.


Five chapters present successful projects from different parts of the globe, all specially photographed by Richard Powers.

     • Design and Build: where and how to create a modern natural home

     • Let There Be Light: manipulating the elements to improve lifestyle and interaction with nature

     • The Material World: using natural products to establish healthier relationships with the environment

     • Indoor/Outdoor Living: ideas for encouraging symbiotic relationships with the landscape, whether in the city or the country

     • Sustainable Footprints: how to naturally reduce domestic energy use


The book includes case studies and plans, a directory of architects, and a listing of featured houses, materials, and useful products.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2011

Reviews

[Brant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I “read” this book more for the pictures of gorgeous, inspiring, quirky homes than any interest in sustainable living. The text covers various aspects of architecture - lighting, indoor/outdoor spaces, materials - and then presents homes that demonstrate those principles. Each home gets a few pages of photos, and usually there’s a simple (and small-scale) floorplan that isn’t too useful. For me the text wasn’t that important, but if you like unique houses, this book doesn’t disappoint.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some of the best pictures! They are great examples of what homes can look like. The book also has useful "green" solutions and ideas. This is definitely a good book to have when planning to build a home from scratch.

[Hannah Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't too bad - a few interesting ideas and a couple lovely pictures, but pretty darn sparse and boring.

[Cyndi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The photos are lovely. I hate books that have tiny, completely unlabeled floor plans...