Book of the day: Green Design – Creative Sustainable Designs for the Twenty-First Century

You can buy this book in our on-line design bookshop

In this timely book, author Marcus Fairs helps readers understand the shift of green design from marginal to mainstream by featuring products and buildings that address immediate concerns about global warming and environmental degradation. Through vast architectural projects to modest one-off pieces of salvaged furniture, the book shows how the design world is responding to the environmental challenges of this century. Author Fairs demonstrates key developments in sustainable design as seen in lighting, houseware, furniture, textiles, products, interiors, architecture, and transportation, including the innovative use of fuel-cell technologies and ultra-lightweight materials.

The book shows how the introduction of eco-friendly materials is changing the products around us and charts the rise of low-energy lighting sources and their impact on lighting design. Emerging trends in green design are also covered, from recycling (reusing existing objects to create new products) to ethical sourcing (ensuring products come from sustainable sources). By presenting existing green innovations as well as visionary projects, Green Design paints a bright future in which technology and ethics merge for the benefit of people and the planet.

Twenty-first Century Design by Markus Fairs – new edition

“Twenty-first Century Design” by Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs is a fascinating survey of the contemporary design landscape, guiding the reader through the intoxicating array of contemporary movements, styles and trends, and identifying today’s leading designers, as well as future design classics. This pioneering publication places the contemporary scene in a historic framework and explores cultural and economic forces shaping design now and in the years to come. Accessible and engaging, it charts the incredible explosion of design worldwide and discusses cross-fertilization between design movements in what is rapidly emerging as one of the most exciting industries in the world.