"Green design is often used to refer to people's health, safety, and welfare, whereas sustainable design is often used to refer to the health, safety and welfare of the planet." Ultimately both follow the same concepts for what is health for the planet is health for people.
The built environment (consisting of the construction, operating, and equipping) according to the World Watch Institute (US DOE 2003) accounts for 10% of the world's economy and utilizes between 17% to 50% of the world's natural resources and causing major damage to the planet.
Interior designers that design interiors around the world's ecology and the quality of life to users, "by identifying and analyzing the raw materials, manufacturing methods, transportation, use, maintenance, and disposal of all furnishings, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) specified for an interior." Significant studies have been generated on sustainable building and construction systems, yet very few have been conducted to define the role interior designers play on the environmental responsible built environment.
Why is this noteworthy:
This article touched on something that I really would like to see happen. The true aspect of researching the FF&E of a job. This should be just basic design sense and not a green or non-green issue. Great design demands that it's designers be knowledgeable of all products and finishes applies to a job. This article's seemed to be describing sustainable design as a speciality within design. Is this what sustainable design will become, then next niche option for designers?
What this means to me:
As many of you know, my thesis topic is the incorporating sustainable design practices into an interior design curriculum. This topic of the interior designer's role in the sustainable built environment is one of great concern for me. A great foundation of strong, powerful concepts and theories on what sustainable or green design means to the built interior is greatly needed. This can be achieved through education. Once a design student, understands all aspects of a material specified , including its ecological impact on the environment, then the student is ready for design today and the many tomorrows to come. Let designers not have to make the choice of doing green design or not, let them be empowered with the knowledge of how to find the best solution for the job. This includes taking into account the ecological impact of the product specified. Is it to much to ask that good design be green without out a lot of added effort on the part of the designer? Can interior design educators provide the guidance and mentoring to the students of design about what sustainable design is and its importance?
Article source:
Author's title: Why Design Environmentally Responsible Interior Environments?
Author's name: Dr. Louise Jones
Year of publication: 2007
Article found in: Implications a newsletter by InformeDesign. Vol 01, issue 06
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2 comments:
Your comment on researching the true FF&E of a job forces me to share a sad story- My company is currently in the middle of rennovating a 10,000 sq. ft. building for our use as an office space. They are going for LEED- what level, I'm not really sure. When new furniture came up, they weren't all that concerned with whether or not the furniture is green or not because they will already recieve the furniture point from re-using old furniture. *sigh*
Tommy,
The sustainability movement appears to be moving through a process of maturation, leading some to connect the dots that sustainability is not simply doing things for the earth, but in fact extends its tendrils into allied areas, such as human welfare, economic forces, and the like. I believe that an understanding of these connections is critical to the longterm life of this heightened awareness. It has been revealing to see environmental awareness ebb and flow over the last 20 years due to the fluctuations in the price of oil. It's my hope that the current zeitgeist is capable of a sufficiently holistic picture to keep the ball rolling long enough for permanent attitudinal change to result. Oh, and death to hummers. (just kidding, but not entirely.)
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