In the past decade Asia’s building sector has slowly come around to the idea of the Green building. The movement has picked up pace since 2005 with the introduction of, at last count, 13 national Green building assessment tools. Despite a steep rise in the number of certified buildings, the approach to Greening is fragmented and cautious at best. The Asian Green building does not do enough to mitigate impact nor do the conventions of Greening address the diverse needs of the region and its people.
An urgent rethink is needed. Asia must get past the current do-less-harm approach—often coupled with a case for short-term returns—towards long-term, locale- and community-specific outcomes. The author investigates over 30 recent projects, extracting from them six principles for sustainable architecture that are Asia-centric and scalable. This book is a must-have guide for building professionals, developers and operators—essentially any stakeholder in Asia’s building industry—and a reference text for academia. The well-illustrated layout will also appeal to the non-technical reader interested in the rising tide of Green in Asia.
