Sim Van der Ryn is president of the Ecological Collaborative, a design and consulting practice providing comprehensive design services. He has been a pioneer in developing projects that integrate ecological principles into the built environment, creating multiscale solutions driven by nature's intelligence for more than 40 years. Ryn was a professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley for 35 years and has written seven books.
It has been a great source of personal satisfaction for this creative architect to see the green-building movement which he led for so many years now bear fruit. In this beautifully organized book with watercolor paintings by Ryn, we are treated to a design paradigm that accentuates human use, empathy for the natural environment, and the common good.
Ryn discusses the design of 33 camps to shelter migrant workers between 1964 - 1974; his principles of building for health by using natural materials, minimizing electrical fields, and paying attention to harmonic design; and his gravitation to ecological systems and quality of life for all. At the heart of this book is the author's spiritual quest to connect with his inner self, to savor solitude and intimacy. This emphasis reminded us of the same kind of quest by R. Buckminster Fuller, another design pioneer.
