From the AIA Committee on the Environment website:

"Whether you are just getting started in sustainable design or are already an experienced green architect, you'll find a ton of useful information in HOK's Guidebook.

"Whereas the first edition focused heavily on the technical strategies and material choices related to designing for energy and resource efficiency, the new Guidebook greatly expands the discussion of the design process. The section titled The New Design Process is one of the best descriptions of integrated design available today.

"Other design process sections include descriptions of important sustainable design tasks such as Commissioning and Energy Optimization. The descriptions not only demystify these often unfamiliar services but could also be used to create a scope of work for specialty consultants. Other useful data include a helpful summary of energy simulation programs, a listing of common chemical substances to avoid in materials selection and a short concise specification guide organized by CSI section.

"The new version's Case Studies are much expanded with more built projects than before. In perhaps HOK's boldest move, for several completed projects they have included an honest and revealing description of how each building has been performing, including actual performance data on energy use, maintenance costs, etc. This sharing of what is working—and what is not—is crucial for the field of sustainable design to progress beyond optimistic and well-intentioned design solutions.

"HOK is to be commended for beginning this necessary dialogue of shared data as well as producing this extremely useful Guidebook."

Source: "Book Review: The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design, Second Edition (Wiley, 2006)," www.aia.org, by Martin Muscoe, Summer 2006. Read the review.

The HOK Guidebook is also featured on the TreeHugger.com blog.