Building Within Nature: A Guide for Home Owners, Contractors, and Architects

By Sally Wasowski, Andy Wasowski, Sally Wasowski Wasowski

Book Overview

Every year, many thousands of acres of woodlands, deserts, meadowlands, and coastal scrub are turned into home or commercial sites. Ironically, by the time these structures are complete, bulldozers have scraped the land clean of its natural vegetation and character, the very features that attracted buyers in the first place. In Building within Nature, Andy and Sally Wasowski introduce new and exciting techniques for preserving the natural land on which we build new homes, offices, or even shopping centers. Building within Nature stresses that the unnatural landscapes so common in America literally exist on artificial life support. A natural landscape, on the other hand, is filled with native flora and can exist on rainfall alone. A structure built within nature looks as if it has been gently set down into a mature and established landscape--the easiest kind of landscape to maintain. The Wasowskis illustrate this new concept in construction through profiles of sites in California, Arizona, South Carolina, Minnesota, and other locations in North America. They also highlight useful techniques for revegetation, discuss the importance of soils, and argue for the preservation and maintenance of natural habitats. Building within Nature offers a practical blueprint for creating communities where both wildlife and human life thrive in a harmonious relationship. "For offering workable alternatives in nontechnical terms to ecologically minded home owners, contractors, and architects, the Wasowskis' book is highly recommended." -- Library Journal Andy and Sally Wasowski are the authors of nine books about gardening and landscaping with native plants, including Gardening with Prairie Plants: How to Create Beautiful Native Landscapes (Minnesota, 2002). Their work has appeared in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens handbooks, Country America, National Gardening, Sierra, Audubon, American Gardener, and Fine Gardening . Darrel G. Morrison, FASLA, is one of the nation's most respected native plant landscape architects.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816649022
• ISBN13: 9780816649020
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.1" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Building Inside Nature's Enyelope

Building Inside Nature's Envelope. This book has shown a great respect for nature around us. As I am building a underground home, The principals shown and the caring for my property will be grately inhanced. The auther has taken grate lengths to show what we all should be thinking when building a new home or structure. I rate this BOOK A 10 PLUS READ Thanks for a great book. John Morin Milo, Maine

Excellent Resource

I recently finished this book and was delighted with the ideas set forth. As many Americans, I had never heard of this technique before. I am currently attending school for a degree in Architecture and am very environmentally oriented. The author provided an easy to understand framework for the process and even better examples. This building technique of minimal impact on the land is a great idea and I am glad that I found this book. These principles have definitely furthered my understanding of how such simple things can make such a difference. I am truly influenced by the nature's envelope technique.

Great Building/Development Resource

Finally something on the most neglected part of so many construction projects: the landscape interface between a building and it's site.Not only does this book cover a huge geographic area for the subject of environmentally-sensitive building placement and landscape salvage/retention/revegetation, but it does it accurately. The techincal "how-to" steps are for professionals and homeowners alike, and all in the Wasowski's easy-to-read language.Hopefully EVERY developer will study and apply all the principles found in this book. Too bad it isn't the law for the development and home buyer to comply with the principles found herein!