‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

Box 24 Typology of Green Aesthetic Orientations
The following is a highly generalized typology. In practice, such distinctions merge, of course, 
but it may be useful in exploring and developing one’s own views about building design.
‘Inside–out’ 
(human-centred) 
orientation
‘Outside–in’ 
 
(resource-centred) 
orientation
A net positive 
 
orientation
Basic goals 
driving the 
initial building 
form
Needs of individuals:
contextual factors 
affecting individual 
comfort (eg comfort, 
lighting, noise, privacy, 
quiet, views and feelings)
Needs of building: forces 
of nature and external 
conditions impacting on 
the site and building en-
velope (eg solar access, 
wind, flood and fire)
Needs of community 
and life support system: 
means to increase eco-
services and improve 
human and ecosystem 
health
Key design 
aims
Operational efficiency: 
reduce energy and 
water demands of users 
(outputs)
Resource efficiency: 
reduce resource 
demands of the building 
on environment (inputs)
Increase ecological base 
and public estate and 
reduce ‘designed waste’ 
(flows)
Spatial 
criteria and 
determinants
Adds space for interior 
human activities, limited 
by cost and other 
constraints
Adds space for public 
areas, limited by plan
-
ning constraints etc
Adds (multi-functional) 
ecological space for 
humans and nature
Starting point 
for layout
Bubble diagram defines 
linkages and barriers
between internal 
functions
Site diagram defines the 
linkages and barriers 
between the envelope 
and the environment
Map environmental 
flows through site 
to restore, capture 
and create surplus 
eco-services