Designers, by definition, are at the forefront of innovation. But in the case of green design -- creating human habitats that are non-polluting, energy-efficient and overall environmentally friendly -- the residential interior design world has some catching up to do. And with "Beyond Green,'' the theme of San Francisco Design Center's Winter Market last week, several hundred interior decorators found themselves swept up in a discussion that has moved from the simple specification of natural materials to the concept of global sustainability.
Amid the leather and lacquer, the chrome and copper and miles of fine fabrics that make up the annual market's showroom displays were chairs and sofas and carpets made of sterner stuff: sustainably grown, safely harvested materials assembled by fairly paid laborers using nontoxic glues and finishes, requiring minimal energy to produce and distribute -- and panels of nagging environmentalist types to flog the notion that green can be beautiful as well as enlightened.
That such a discussion is overdue was made clear by House & Garden magazine's design editor Mayer Rus, who, in opening remarks to the group last Wednesday, admitted that even his magazine had not been paying close enough attention to the issues raised by green design. Citing a 25,000-square-foot house featured in his magazine as an example of environmentally responsible architecture because of its sustainably harvested wood siding, he noted that little else in the project would qualify as green. The very fact that magazines such as his still seek out projects to label "green'' shows that sustainable design and building is "still in the ghetto,'' he said. For many in a profession that revolves around sofas and armoires and marble bathrooms, "green'' still carries a whiff of hippie survivalism.
The term green has been around for 35 years or more, used loosely in architecture to mean a building or a product made out of natural, renewable or recycled materials, or a process that does not cause pollution. But as Collin Burry, a principal designer at Gensler Architecture in San Francisco, reminded designers gathered for a Thursday panel discussion, "We are all part of this interconnected and closed loop called the Earth.'' That recognition is at the heart of any discussion of sustainability and is, as Susan Szenasy, Metropolis magazine editor in chief, who moderated the panel "Beyond Green: Exploring Sustainability,'' acknowledged, "broadening the scope of design.''
Sustainability raises the "green" discussion from materials and processes to include marketing, distribution, disposal and human labor. Raw materials used in a product are just the beginning, according to Rus, who ticked off a litany of other questions one must ask of one's furniture or buildings, including manufacturing processes, coatings, binders and glues, off-gasses, lacquers, packaging, energy used in the manufacture and to ship the product. In architecture, the issues include siting, uses of natural light, energy tradeoffs, flexibility of uses, length of life of a building. For both, fair labor standards (no child labor) around the world, using local and indigenous materials when appropriate, supporting local economies and even "using less'' are issues.
Commercial architects and designers, such as those at Gensler, which has more than 400 staffers accredited by LEED -- the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program -- have been leading the way in sustainable design, and the scope of large commercial projects can have a major impact on the industry, as Szenasy noted, although even in residential design, the "individual decisions of designers ... make a huge difference when you put them in the aggregate.''
"The interesting thing,'' Burry said in a telephone interview, "is more and more when we talk to our clients about sustainable design, almost all of them say it is something they would like to have.'' Referring to creating sustainable spaces for his high-end clientele, interior designer Paul Wiseman told the Szenasy panel's audience: "I'm embarrassed to say we don't do as well as we could.'' Still, he confessed, he's recently garaged his Jaguar and now drives a hybrid Prius to client meetings. It's OK to start small, he said, noting that once the very wealthy get on board with sustainable building, "everyone else will follow.''
"To me this whole movement is interesting,'' Burry said in a phone interview. "Fifteen years ago in San Francisco, the whole ergonomic movement started. The green movement is where ergonomics was 10 years ago. This is something we all need to think about in general.''
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/01/HOG8LGUR0V1.DTL
