The Low Tech Handbook

The term ‘low-tech’ describes a design that is user-friendly, low-maintenance, resource- and energy-efficient. It involves concepts aiming at sustainability and simplicity and the least impact on the natural environment. Low-tech architecture reduces the ecological footprint of buildings.

The Low-Tech Handbook is the first practical guide book to the fundamental principles of simple and robust construction. It puts them in context, illustrates how to apply them, and quantifies their effectiveness. Building on American architect Christopher Alexander’s (1936–2022) concept of a Pattern Language, The Low-Tech Handbook is organised into the three fields of Space, Use, and Materials and enables intuitive navigation.

This uniquely comprehensive survey on low-tech approaches in architecture and construction compiles and systematizes information and advice that was so far hard to find and documented scattered across a multitude of sources. It brings together research findings from leading schools of architecture and technology as well as from specialist practitioners, making available their proven know-how as an evidence-based and realistic foundation for design and construction.