Beyond Environmental Comfort highlights some of the key ideas that form the foundation of the field of environmental comfort and, at the same time, gives voice to some of the concerns and considerations on the limitations of the field as it stands today.
Bringing together a range of foremost thinkers in their respective fields - Michel Cabanac, Derek Clements-Croome, Nick Baker, Harold Marshall, Juhani Pallasmaa, Dean Hawkes, and Constance Classen - this book argues for a deeper appreciation of how environmental comfort may be understood in terms of our relationship with the environment rather than as independent qualities. For the first time these diverse views are brought together by Editor Boon Lay Ong to present insights into a world beyond what is normally covered in academic research. In the process, an attempt is made to define the field for the future.
This book shows that it is by understanding just how environmental design needs to go beyond mere comfort and deal with well-being that we can meaningfully design our future.
Preface 1. Introduction: Environmental Comfort and Beyond Boon Lay Ong 2. Sensory Pleasure and Homeostasis Michel Cabanac 3. Consciousness, Well-being and the Senses Derek Clements-Croome 4. Cultural Responses to Primitive Needs Nick V. Baker 5. Acoustical Aesthetics, Sound and Space Harold A. Marshall 6. Existential Comfort: Lived Space and Architecture Juhani Pallasmaa 7. Airport Restrooms: Outdoor Environment Indoor Space Boon Lay Ong 8. The Poetics of Environment Dean Hawkes 9. Why Does the Environment Matter? Derek Clements-Croome 10. Biophilia, Topophilia and Home Boon Lay Ong 11. Green Pleasures Constance Classen Index
Biography
Boon Lay Ong currently teaches Environmentally Sustainable Design as course subjects and design studio at the University of Melbourne in Australia. He is also noted for developing the Green Plot Ratio, a sustainability metric that is used in Singapore to encourage greenery density.
"It is an eclectic collection of essays but in that I find its strength, there is so much potential for extension from this leading edge presented so candidly by each author." — Dr Dominique Hes, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne University
