ICON - The magazine of the American Society of Interior Designers - (Page 55) thinking green network of combined expertise when he’s “stumped” about a particular product or material. As the LEED Green Building Rating System becomes a regular fixture in the A&D world, many resource librarians are finding that it also provides a logical way to structure their libraries. Both Ragsdale and Carey say that they use LEED as a basis for setting up their reference libraries for green materials. “[LEED] is a concrete way to start,” agrees Ragsdale. “Products that can contribute to LEED credits are preferable.” Although using LEED points as a basis isn’t perfect, it’s better than “just putting a green sticker” on something, says Carey. “That doesn’t really tell you anything.” And while his firm’s library of LEEDqualifying product is still fairly small and dominated by certain manufacturers, Carey feels it is “definitely poised to get much bigger.” Of course, the second side of the sustainability effort when it comes to design libraries is the actual samples, which create an immense amount of waste both when they are produced and when they are eventually discarded. Not only are manufacturers constantly sending new samples, but firms often request duplicates as well. “The challenge with having so many employees in one location sharing the same resources, is that at any given time something is missing,” says Ragsdale. With time constraints, often the only solution is just to request another sample, resulting in much duplication. “We make every effort to return or recycle samples and to give new life to what we can’t use,” Ragsdale says. She emphasizes that most of TPG’s vendors are very good about taking back samples when the firm no longer needs them. Additionally, TPG has a donation program with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The firm gives any current, duplicate materials to the FIT library. Each quarter the school picks up eight to nine boxes of product samples. While products such as SIM digital carpet samples from Tricycle, Industry Partner of ASID, have been developed specifically to reduce the waste created by the sampling process, they are not always embraced by specifiers. Carey and Ragsdale agree that it’s a “wonderful” and “very cool” product, but have noticed that in many cases designers who are used to the traditional, full-size samples may not initially respond as well to innovations such as SIM samples. “I hope the industry changes, but it comes down to what people—both designers and clients—are going to accept,” questions Carey. And that is a question that will probably be answered little-by-little as individuals take responsibility for their own decisions.] See the Resource Guide on page 78 for additional resources and information about “Thinking Green.” The 1,500-square-foot design library at TPG Architecture in New York is one of the largest in the city, and includes a growing reference library of green materials that support LEED specifications. ASID ICON | SEP/OCT 2007 BRIAN ROSE 55
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