Sustainable Commercial Interiors

Penny Bonda, Katie Sosnowchik, Summer Minchew

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781118456293
• eBook ISBN: 9781118879979
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Interior Design

Discover new approaches to green design and sustainable building with this comprehensive guide

There's a substantial amount of information designers and architects need to understand about sustainability and commercial projects, especially as expectations for professionals in the industry become clearer. Luckily, the second edition of Sustainable Commercial Interiors has been revamped to serve as a comprehensive guide for anyone looking to understand the latest in green and sustainable design. Fully revised throughout, this resource now includes frameworks based on the new LEEDv4 rating system, and provides fifteen brand-new case studies that document green design and building strategies for all types of projects. You'll find information on materials, furnishings, finishes, product standards, and certifications, all designed to keep you in the know and prepare you for future ventures in sustainable design.

The ideal professional companion for interior designers, commercial builders and developers, architects, and interior design students, this guide is an all-in-one introduction to the most essential topics in the industry, such as global environmental issues, water and energy usage, and the tools of the trade, to name just a few. The book is illustrated with full color images throughout.

• Fully revised and updated to include information on the new LEEDv4 rating system
• Discusses the past, present, and future of sustainable design
• Considers global environmental issues, such as waste, land use, and bio-inspired design
• Covers water and energy usage and sustainable materials

Discover the benefits of green building and adopt new approaches to sustainable design. Sustainable Commercial Interiors is your go-to resource for navigating new expectations for responsible interior design.

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SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Help Wanted

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Seeking commercial interior designer with a desire to eradicate the causes of sick buildings, nurture the health and well-being of the occupants of interior spaces as well as increase the retention and productivity of said occupants (thus improving a client’s return on the building investment), and assist in halting the rapid depletion of precious natural resources. Candidates must possess the talent to interpret sometimes complex and complicated standards, as well as the knack to separate fact from fiction. Only those interested in constant learning and able to demonstrate a willingness to challenge conventional thinking need apply.

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Chances are you probably won’t find this classified ad posted on LinkedIn or CareerBuilder.com anytime soon, yet it represents some of the big-picture responsibilities facing an interior designer who chooses to pursue a practice that is grounded in the tenets of sustainable design. It is a career that can be as challenging as it is satisfying, filled with unlimited possibilities largely because the delineation between green design and great design is gradually blurring. Someday, all great design will be green design. When that happens, environmental design solutions will be de rigueur. Codes will be in place to guide design professionals toward the right decisions. Accepted standards will provide benchmarks against which to measure new products and procedures. Those with experience—the veterans who have participated in the development of this new approach to design—will be ahead of the curve and well positioned to capitalize on its potential.

For now, however, interior designers and architects continue to strive to understand the issues while learning to separate valid information from phony claims. Current efforts focus on translating the outcomes of early anecdotal success stories and initial research studies while undertaking further investigation to help solidify the case for green building from ecological, economical, and sociological standpoints (fig. 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Anecdotal evidence and early research studies demonstrate that sustainable design practices can positively impact business from three distinct yet overlapping perspectives: economic, environmental, and social. The task at hand is to strengthen the case with a wealth of solid empirical data.

Interpreting data, though, can be frustrating and difficult and often comes down to understanding the significant elements involved with ecology and sustainability. It also requires an understanding of developing—and diverse—mind-sets in order to best extrapolate these principles and practices into mainstream thinking.

Sustainability Defined and Refined

The word sustain comes from the Latin word sustinere, which means “to hold up from below” (sus-, “from below,” and tenere, “to hold”). Throughout the centuries, the use of the word has evolved, and today it is cloaked in many subtle variations: to give support or relief, to provide nourishment or the necessities of life, to buoy up, to make something continue to exist, to maintain through time. The term first appeared in the environmental vernacular a few hundred years ago when the Germans invented a new form of forestry practice that was designed to ensure that their forests were not run down—it was called in the English-speaking world “sustainable-yield forestry.”¹ One of the term’s first appearances in the business arena occurred in an article entitled “The Blueprint for Survival,” published in The Ecologist magazine in January 1972, in which the authors wrote of the need for “sustainable development” and for “ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future.”²

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Our vision is of a life-sustaining Earth. We are committed to the achievement of a dignified, peaceful, and equitable existence. A sustainable United States will have a growing economy that provides equitable opportunities for satisfying livelihoods and a safe, healthy, high quality of life for current and future generations. Our nation will protect its environment, its natural resource base, and the functions and viability of natural systems on which all life depends.

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—The President’s Council on Sustainable Development, “Towards a Sustainable America,” May 1999

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Also in 1972, the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation earned global attention at the United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden. Not long after, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was formed to “act as a global catalyst for action to protect the environment.” Despite UNEP’s efforts, however, environmental degradation continued at an accelerating rate, so much so that in 1983 the UN established the World Commission on Environment and Development, which served to “emphasize that environmental degradation, long seen as a side effect of industrial wealth with only a limited impact, was in fact a matter of survival for developing nations.” Led by Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway, the commission put forward the concept of sustainable development as “a necessary alternative approach versus one simply based on economic growth.” The Brundtland Commission, as it came to be known, defined sustainability as that “which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” A critical factor in achieving this objective, notes the report, is the ability to “overcome environmental degradation without forgoing the needs of economic development as well as social equity and justice.” Sustainability, then, requires that human activity, at a minimum, uses nature’s resources only to the point where these resources can be replenished naturally so that they can continue to sustain—in other words, to support, nourish, and maintain—human populations.

It wasn’t until nearly a decade later, however, at the UN’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, that widespread international support for UNEP’s efforts was fully realized. The summit, which was attended by representatives of 112 countries and more than 2,400 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), was organized by the United Nations in an effort to “help governments rethink economic development and find ways to halt the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet.” As the UN describes, “Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life were drawn into the Rio process. They persuaded their leaders to go to Rio and join other nations in making the difficult decisions needed to ensure a healthy planet for generations to come.”³

At the end of the summit, participating nations adopted a set of 27 principles, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, to guide future sustainable development. Included in these principles was the precept that “human beings are at the center of concerns for sustainable development” and are “entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.” The declaration also acknowledged that “in order to achieve...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Titlepage
• Copyright
• FOREWORD
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• 1 SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
• 2 GLOBAL ISSUES: AN OVERVIEW
• 3 SITES, WATER, AND ENERGY
• 4 THE MATERIALS MAZE
• 5 THE INDOOR ENVIRONMENT
• 6 THE TOOLS OF OUR TRADE
• 7 THE BUSINESS CASE FOR GREEN DESIGN
• 8 PRACTICING WHAT THEY PREACH
• 9 SUBSTANCE AND STYLE
• GLOSSARY
• RESOURCES
• INDEX
• END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT