Sustainability and Interior Design
Interior designers are starting to acknowledge the significance of sustainable interior designing as they attempt to address environment issues in their fundamental principles of practice. There is a current emphasis on the importance of assessing the degree of cost effectiveness of green products and sustainability through the integration of energy saving appliances, eco-friendly materials and the use of green design solutions and criteria. For sustainable interior designing, designers are expected to develop, create and communicate design solutions that are aesthetic and functional (Vallero & Brasier, 10). Environmental issues should especially be important in design development for the specification and selection of design products and materials. Designing guidelines should be based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design that emphasizes on the characteristics of indoor environmental quality, globally sustainable interior designs and materials.
The positive effects of designs on the environment over the life cycle of buildings should be maximized on with a life cycle design that specifies on the use of materials that are locally manufactured, recycled, rapidly renewable, biodegradable, re-usable, and durable with a low life cycle impact (Moussatche et al., 26). Waste management plans should be developed and implemented as well as the reduction and proper disposal of hazardous wastes. It is also important to minimize on the amount of materials used and having a specification on the refurbished and salvaged materials. Unsustainable interior designing on the other hand is harmful to the environment since the impact of materials used to the environment is seldom considered. Environmental pollution, over exploitation of natural resources, poor and inappropriate waste disposal mechanisms and poor environmental indoor air quality are some of its the negative effects (Ryan, 13). Effort should therefore be put to ensure environmental quality is considered in interior designing.
References
Moussatche, H., J. King & Roger, S.T. Material selection in interior design
Practice. Interior Design Educators Council International Conference Abstracts, Mar. 19-24, Santa Fe, NM. 2002. pp: 26-27.
Ryan, Chris. "Dematerializing Consumption through Service Substitution is a Design
Challenge". Journal of Industrial Ecology. 2006. 4(1).
Vallero, D., & Brasier, C. Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green
Engineering. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken: NJ. 2008.
