Designing Sustainable Factories: A Toolkit for the Assessment and Mitigation of Impact on the Landscape

Economic constraints and lack of knowledge often prevent companies - especially small and medium enterprises - from harmonizing their facilities with the landscape. As a result, factories significantly impact the quality of our living environment, in terms of physical effects on the ecosystem, perceptual interferences with the surroundings, and disturbances on local communities. At both the design and maintenance stages, a set of appropriate tools can assist businesses in becoming more aware of their impacts and identifying possible mitigation strategies. The book presents an assessment tool and a library of inspiring design tactics for factories, with examples of the benefits and synergies for the environment, the scenery, the community, and the company itself. The purpose is to elicit more than a simple reflection about what a sustainable factory entails. It is rather to encourage and assist both businesses and designers in mitigating the impact of industrial facilities on the landscape as holistically as possible.