ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an historical description of the transition of the logic of ecological design, that is, from sufficiency to efficiency approaches. It shows how the deployment of environmental control in office buildings is evolving from mechanical to passive solutions, while at the same time discarding approaches of full disconnectivity to systems of infrastructure for achieving environmental efficiency. The chapter explains innovations in design techniques of both individual office buildings as well as office districts, describing issues of energy, water, materials and indoor environment, also paying attention to the social context and degree of connectivity to infrastructure systems. It looks at two the dynamics in bringing about environmental change: that of politics and that of management. The chapter concludes with some observations about the changing character of the environmental restructuring of urban office buildings within the overall context of late modernity.
