Sustainable Structures

Kate McMillan's Sustainable Structures is an illustrated tour of green architecture on every continent. It looks at 15 eco-friendly buildings and explains, in a chatty style aimed at kids, how each one was designed and why it counts as sustainable. The examples are surprising. There is a waste collection site made entirely from recycled materials, a school in Bangladesh built to float when the rainy season brings floods, and a research station in Antarctica that sits on skis. Along the way readers learn that wooden skyscrapers, nicknamed "woodscrapers", can cut down on construction waste, and that termite mounds have inspired systems for controlling temperature inside buildings. The 15 buildings are sorted into five groups, each showing a different principle of sustainable design: using local materials, adaptability, sustainable construction methods, clean energy, and making the best use of space. McMillan's detailed, colorful art is the star here, with close-up views and double-page spreads that invite readers to linger over the small details. Packed with STEAM facts, it suits young would-be architects and engineers, and it belongs to the Books for a Better Earth series, which encourages children to learn about and look after the planet.