In my soon to be professional opinion, the question of natural vs. synthetic material use should be based on the end use of the client. While working at my internship this last summer, the question of natural vs. synthetic was brought up quite a bit. There are all sorts of products out there trying to become more eco-friendly, yet the issue the majority of them run into is actually durability. For example, if you have a wall-covering that will be used in a commercial office building, then it has to meet certain criteria in order to be used. It must be what we call a Type II material, which means it usually contains synthetic material and is therefore more durable. Natural materials (in this case Type I) tend to break down easier and must be replaced more often because they are not as durable as Type II materials.
Unfortunately there are a lot of clients that are looking for the cheapest materials they can get that will last a long time. One such material I came across during my internship was a flooring product called VCT. VCT stands for Vinyl Composition Tile. This product is often used in schools or educational type settings, because of its durability. It is even used in our own school. It is the main hallway flooring in the College of Human Sciences. It is used because it is cheap and will last for a very long time (as long as it is maintained properly). Unfortunately, it is composed of harmful materials that when broken down can harm the environment. They are composed of colored vinyl chips formed into solid sheets of varying thickness by heat and pressure and then cut into varying sizes. These tiles replaced asbestos tiles that were mainly used in the last 1970's and 1980's. If these VCT tiles are burned, they can release dioxins and other hazardous chemicals. Harmful additives such as phthalates and heavy metals can leach out of the roughly 1.5 million tons of vinyl discarded each year just in the United States alone.
Now imagine all of the other products out there that are similar in composition or materials. Considering that natural materials break down easier and are more friendly to the environment, then I would choose natural materials. I believe we who are just going into the industry need to help discover ways to make natural materials more durable. If we were able to help change the materials that we use and quit using the ones that are more harmful to the environment, then I believe we can start to make a change towards becoming a more environmentally friendly industry. It all starts with baby steps, but we having to be willing to take those first steps to get the ball rolling.
Hey Jamie, strong post. What was your internship? Seems like you learned a good deal there! Great connection and draw upon the disposal of synthetic materials. I am a business student looking to go into an entrepreneurial sustainable retail venture and am not familiar with interior textiles so I learned about a few from your post. Are flooring compositions and interior textiles made from natural fibers becoming more popular? What are their negative sides? Are they more costly to use?
ReplyDeleteHi Brittney, I did my internship at an Architecture/Interior Design/Structural Engineering firm in Tulsa this last summer. Some flooring compositions and interior textiles made from natural fibers are showing up more often from manufacturers who then show them to designers/architects, yet they are not often used because they are either not aesthetically pleasing or they are too costly. The negative sides of these materials is that they are not very durable and are usually pretty costly or not very well known. Most clients are looking for the cheapest and most long lasting materials, but natural ones tend to break down faster and require more maintenance. Hope I answered some of your questions. If you have any more, just let me know!
ReplyDeleteJamie, which firm did you work for?? Nice job bringing in real world experience in. Work on integrating your source a little better. Now this is me being an idealist here, but, would it not be better for the client and the designer to have products that area natural but don't last as long? It would encourage/bring back a certain level of trendiness to most companies. Certain industries, particularly hospitality would benefit from this tremendously, as they have very short product cycle times. And then, most of the materials could be recycled or composted. I was very impressed with William McDonough's Cradle to Cradle philosophy, so that kind of where I am going with this. The example he used in the book was that of a tree shedding its leaves in the fall. The leaves compost, make nutrient for the soil, and the tree grows new leaves. Hope you had a good weekend.
ReplyDelete