Sustaining Your Design Career in 2006
by Wendy Croixwendy.croix@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
If you've already completed your formal interior design education, it's not too late to carve out a career path in sustainable design. If you're still in interior design school and looking for a home interior design project with relevance, think sustainable design.
Does it seem as though eco-speak is a foreign language? Check out the glossary of "Common Green Terms" on the ASID website. Designers Lucinda Jennings and Victoria Schomer clarify some commonly used expressions and concepts in sustainable design, giving you the words and ideas to express your "green" intentions.
Design an Interior that Loves the Environment--and Do It with Ease
Green materials offer home interior designers more choices than ever. From floor coverings to upholstery materials to window treatments, environmentally friendly fabrics and furnishings make sustainable home interior design a breeze.-
Use Green Fabrics in Your Home Interior Design, like:
Mayer's ecologically friendly Terratex upholstery materials. Four product lines (Foundation, Links, Constructure, and Electron) come in dozens of colors produced using renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, or hydroelectric power aren't depleted when they're used. -
Use Green Window Treatments, like:
The Quiet Shade System of cloth window panels. Manufactured by MechoShadeGain, these motorized window panels maximize daylighting while minimizing heat and motor noise. Daylighting means the design of an interior that reduces the use of electric lighting and glare by using natural light in interior spaces. -
Use Green Counter Surfaces, like:
Avonite's Cozumel, a countertop material for kitchens or baths made from fragments of reclaimed glass. The textured, neutral Cozumel is from AvoniteSurfaces's recycled collection. Recycling, in greenspeak, refers to the collection and processing of solid waste materials and then using old products as the raw material for the manufacture of new. -
Use Green Veneers, like:
Tabu's Green, a Forest Stewardship Council-certified veneer that comes in fourteen vivid colors. If you use this all-natural wood veneer in your home interior design, you'll earn LEED-certified wood credits. LEED™ is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Building Rating System that sets the industry standards for green design.
Now you're designing--and speaking--green!
Sources
About the Author
Wendy Croix, Ph.D. is a creative writer, freelancer, and self-confessed home improvement junkie. She's also a professor with twenty years’ experience in education.
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