What Colour is your Building?
David H Clark
RIBA Publishing 263pp PB £35

Clark’s book is a no-nonsense guide to answering a basic question the author asked himself. ‘What is the contribution of operating, embodied and transport energy to the whole carbon footprint of buildings?’ Part 1, What Colour? puts the three components into perspective for offices and proposes a simple methodology to assess the whole carbon footprint. Part 2, Changing Colour, provides guidance to help everyone in the project team reduce the whole carbon footprint of buildings.  It’s simply written, but bear with it – the validity of the points are better communicated through the clear telling. This is further helped by the book being copiously illustrated with graphs, photographs and diagrams. Clark’s core argument is that building design does not need a radical overhaul, ‘just a healthy dose of common sense and good design principles’.