Edited by Sofie Pelsmakers and Nick Newman (RIBA Publishing, 2021)
Over the last 18 months, we have all thought a lot about change: with Covid-19, wildfires and record-breaking extreme weather in many areas of the country, and global political and social upheavals. The idea of ?building back better? is a positive message?and in any case, there is little chance of things going back to the status quo.
Such is the ethos of Everything Needs to Change: Architecture and the Climate Emergency, the first in the Design Studio book series from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The well-illustrated book has an unmissable brightly coloured front cover, and is edited by Sofie Pelsmakers, professor and author of The Environmental Design Pocketbook, and Nick Newman, climate activist and director of Studio Bark.  The book features essays, interviews and case studies of new global approaches to sustainable buildings. For example, there is a profile of the UK office Mikhail Riches, an award-winning environmental architecture firm that focuses on designing projects that achieve zero-carbon targets while promoting zero-carbon lifestyles. Projects exploring ideas of resilience include the work of Indian office Samira Rathod Design Atelier, whose inspiring spaces beautifully combine passive strategies, simple forms, and local materials such as terracotta brick. Danish office Lendager Group explores building-scale reuse strategies, including in the innovative Resource Rows: a ser...