ASID Foundation Names Healthy Building Network Winner of $100,000 Research Grant

via officenewswire, January 27, 2011

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.

About Healthy Building Network: The Healthy Building Network is deeply committed to the goal of achieving environmental justice. We employ comprehensive lifecycle thinking when evaluating green building materials. Since 2000, our projects have directly resulted in the introduction of new, healthier building materials into commercial markets, shifting over $4 billion in materials purchases from toxic materials to healthier alternatives that are comparable in both price and performance to the materials they have replaced. We have played a key role in establishing precedent-setting green building guidelines for health care facilities, demonstrating well-built, healthy and green modular homes to the affordable housing market in the Gulf States region and developing the first, on-line evaluation tool for building materials.
http://www.healthybuilding.net/

About ASID Foundation: As the leading interior design organization, ASID is dedicated to progressing the profession of interior design. The ASID Foundation supports endeavors that capture and disseminate knowledge, encourage innovation, and benefit the health safety, and welfare of the public through interior design research, scholarships and education. ASID Foundation initiatives include CIDA’s Accreditation Process Review, REGREEN, a collaborative project with the U.S. Green Building Council, and Rebuilding Together and their Veteran’s Housing Initiative, which rehabilitates the homes of low-income active and retired members of the military. Learn more at www.asidfoundation.org

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