ASID Foundation awards $100,000 to the Materials Research Collaborative

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 1/28/2011 10:35:16 AM

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Society of Interior Designers Foundation (ASID Foundation) has awarded $100,000 to the Materials Research Collaborative, a two-year project of the Healthy Building Network (HBN). The foundation received proposals from more than 60 interior designers, scientists and educators for projects focusing on how interior design improves human behavior.

A central element of the partnership between HBN and BuildingGreen, The Materials Research Collaborative operates with the purpose of enabling the interior design community to more proactively participate in reducing the use of building products that are hazardous to human health while stimulating market demand for healthier building products. Chemicals released from interior finish products into the built environment can have profound impacts on human behavior, ranging from reduced comfort and productivity for building occupants to long-term genetic damage that can affect future generations. This project will provide interior designers with an improved level of independently-verified information that can be applied to avoid using these materials.

This information will be presented for use via the Pharos online database and analysis system, a project of HBN that has established itself as the industry leader in transparent access to chemical and material properties of building products.