AIA A&D MATERIALS PLEDGE

The materials we are surrounded by in the built environment can have positive or negative impacts on our own health, the health of our communities, and the wellbeing of our ecosystems and climate. They can decrease our stress hormones or impair our cognitive function; they can create thriving local economies or pollute neighborhoods; they can restore wetlands areas and sequester carbon or contaminate our waterways and air.

Selecting materials is a multi-faceted process, and vetting products for positive impacts is complex. Understanding this challenge, the Materials Pledge began as a declaration to demand products that make the world a better place.

Since its early stages, the pledge evolved to chart a course beyond “less bad” and widen our outlook to provide a visionary definition of sustainable material sourcing.

Materials Framework (CMF), an industry collaboration led by Mindful Materials, in 2022. The establishment of specific goals and requirements for reporting and sharing data are anticipated by 2024.

EWINGCOLE’S COMMITMENT

As stewards of health and wellbeing, EwingCole saw the foundational importance of this pledge, and became a signatory in 2019, the year it was introduced. To achieve its vision, we aim to select products with material ingredients and supply chains that are transparent, disclosed, and optimized.

Our Progress

To date, we have developed education and are updating processes in the following ways to support the pledge:

– Education: A “Why and How To” guide for each health category,

– Education: An “AIA Materials Pledge” internal webinar,

– Design Process: A tracking tool for projects to study and record material selection by certification types that align with each health category,

– Design Process: We have begun refreshing our firm’s materials library(s) and policies, and

– Design Process: We have begun updating our specifications to eliminate harmful products and improve selection across all projects.

Support Human Health by preferring products which support and foster life throughout their lifecycles and seek to eliminate the use of substances that are hazardous.

Support Climate Health by preferring products which reduce carbon emissions and ultimately sequester more carbon than emitted.

Support Ecosystem Health by preferring products which support and regenerate the natural air, water, and biological cycles of life through thoughtful supply chain management and restorative company practices.

Support Social Health & Equity by preferring products from manufacturers who secure human rights in their own operations and in their supply chains, and which provide positive impacts for their workers and the communities where they operate.

Support a Circular Economy by reusing buildings and materials; and by designing for material efficiency, long life, and reuse.