RIBA Bookshops

Sofie Pelsmakers

Sofie Pelsmakers is a chartered architect and environmental designer with more than a decade of hands-on experience designing, building and teaching sustainable architecture. She taught sustainability and environmental design and led a masters programme in sustainable design at the University of East London. She is currently a doctoral researcher in building energy demand reduction at the UCL Energy Institute and co-founder of Architecture for Change, a not-for-profit environmental building organisation.

Matt Bridgestock, John Gilbert Architects

The Environmental Design Pocketbook stands out as a definitive, clear sighted and easy to read summary of British best practice...an outstanding source of information and techniques. It should be part of every architect or aspiring architect’s library.

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"Anyone serious about sustainable design, professional or student, should buy this book."

- Hattie Hartman, Architect's Journal

"Sustainability and the environment is a huge topic and one of enormous importance to all those involved in the building industry. I recommend this book as an invaluable tool in a fast changing and complicated field, it is easy to use, well illustrated and packed with useful information and guidance."

-       Angela Brady, President RIBA

"It is simple, concise and packed with useful facts and figures.  Sofie’s book makes it easy to grasp the issues and strategies to design and construct greener buildings.  I’ll be keeping a copy close to hand."

-      Pooran Desai, Co-Founder BioRegional and One Planet Communities

"Finally, a definitive summary of almost everything you need to know in order to design a truly environmental building in the UK – this pocket-sized encyclopaedia punches way above its weight. Loaded with up to the minute facts, principles, rules of thumb and sound reasoning, it is an essential reference for the busy professional and aspiring student. Sofie Pelsmakers has written a powerfully condensed guide which should always be within arm's reach to help resolve those inevitable discussions about which environmental strategy to adopt. At a time when technology and regulation are getting more and more complicated, her simple diagrams and sensible writing cut through to the core information needed to move forward towards a more sustainable built environment. This is it - the really useful book for designing good buildings which address the future now."

-      Professor Fionn Stevenson, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

"Generally, this pocketbook is an excellent read, laid out with clarity, designer-friendly and with lots of good rules of thumb (side-by-side with proper more detailed explanations).  A must-read for all architecture students and an ideal ready-reckoner for those wishing to achieve environmental sustainability in their building projects.  It also provides a wealth of useful references for further reading and technical references and is a true navigational aid for good design – from the strategic to the micro level.  I thoroughly recommend it."

-      Lynne Sullivan OBE, Partner, Sustainable By Design

"Effectively and economically implementing a holistic approach to the design of sustainable new buildings and, particularly, refurbishing old ones – reducing pollution and waste and creating new opportunities for nature on and around our buildings – is extremely challenging! This book will help readers understand both complex design and construction principles, while restating those basic, simple and effective measures so often neglected in the search for 'innovation' and 'box ticking'. Author Sofie Pelsmaker’s practical knowledge and experience of the rigorous and effective Passivhaus approach adds substantial value to this pocketbook. This title will aid those seeking to reduce our need for heat and power, whilst increasing comfort and health for those living and working in buildings: doing more with less."

-      Andy Simmonds, Simmonds.Mills Architects

"What a handy book. In the twenty years I have spent editing Green Building magazine I have seen a lot published on the subject of sustainable building but this book has some of the most engaging and 'to-the-point' diagrams and tables that I have come across. These really make this pocket-sized book a useful addition for anyone interested in this subject."

-      Keith Hall, Editor of Green Building magazine

"Environmental design should lie at the heart of architectural education and practice. We now have libraries full of books, many of them excellent, which approach the subject from various points-of-view. In The Environmental Design Pocketbook Sofie Pelsmakers brings a welcome and virtuous clear-sightedness to the subject by presenting the fundamentals without pretension. I particularly commend the presentation of climate and micro-climate and, at the other end of the scale, the beautifully drawn, large-scale construction details."

-      Dean Hawkes