ABSTRACT
The importance of these case studies is not that they are the best exemplars of green building in the LDR context but that, through them, the issues and opportunities of sustainability can be examined in their particular context. All the case studies are buildings from the wide middle tier of building projects described in Chapter 1. Their significance lies in their relevance to the broader economy of which they are part. They are not (like the self-built shelter) so marginal to the economy, nor (like the constructions of the privileged) so expensive as to be of imited relevance to the larger economic context in which they are found. The case studies are useful in understanding how the sustainability issues addressed in the thirty-seven strategies of Chapter 3 look in the LDR context. The designs of the projects respond to cultural, topographic and climatic imperatives and to other parameters of the site. Each seeks to maximize the use of local labour, building materials and techniques with the aim of minimizing both first-cost and life-cycle expenditures for maintenance.
