Metropolis - October 2009

The PANEL

INSIDE

ROBIN GUENTHER Perkins + Will New York

the
GREEN

CHRISTA
CLARK JANSEN
Mithun
Seattle

Tool- box

NILA
LEISEROWITZ
Gensler
Santa Monica, California

BRAD LYNCH Brininstool + Lynch Chicago

INGRIDA MARTINKUS TVS Design Altanta

ROBERT NORWOOD NBBJ Seattle

JOSEPH PETTIPAS HOK Toronto

by
Martin C.
Pedersen
When every manufacturer is touting its environmental story,
how do you source genuinely sustainable products and materials?

JENNIFER RAINEY SOM New York

There was a time in the not so distant past—maybe five or six years ago—when specifying green products and materials was an arduous and ultimately frustrating process. Choices were limited. The aesthetic was raw and clunky. (It wasn’t hard, for instance, to pick the sustainable wall-covering out of a lineup.) Worst of all, the best available options—the ones where beauty was part of the equation and the product’s good intentions weren’t so readily apparent—often came at a premium that produced the familiar lament: “This was our first choice, but . . . ” Fortunately, the need for green

interiors, driven by the architecture-and-design community and the growth of LEED, has transformed the market. There are now a lot of sustainable products around. Today’s challenge? Every manufacturer touts an environmental story, so speccing is less about the initial search and more about weighing competing, and often conflicting, claims. With that in mind, we asked ten leading architects and interior designers about their approaches to green spaces. We think their collective responses highlight both real progress and the shortcomings of the marketplace. /