By Stephanie Clemons, Ph.D., FASID, FIDEC
ASID is partnering with the Clinton Global Initiative to help designers specify safer materials and furnishingsand create healthier spaces as a result.
In 2015, ASID will train designers and architects nationwideinitially 40,000to specify healthier products and materials and to apply protocols that help enable the creation of spaces that promote occupants health and wellness. In applying the protocols to their work for clients nationwide, these designers and architects have the potential to improve the well-being of millions of people.
It was accomplished through a recent partnership between ASID and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), two organizations whose names I wouldnt have imagined in the same sentence six months ago. Thats when I first learned that ASID, under the leadership of ASID Board Chair Rachelle Schoessler Lynn and CEO Randy Fiser, was pursuing the opportunity to participate in designing for human health on a national and global stage.
I remember thinking then: what will a CGI commitment mean for ASID members and other interior designers? How will it change the way we do business? How will it continue to position interior design professionals as leaders in the wellness of people worldwide?
The conversation and momentum around health and wellness has created a compelling case for interior designers to offer a set of services on top of what they offer today.
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On behalf of the ASID membership, I thank all of the organizations joining us in our CGI commitment to developing the ASID Protocols for Health and Wellness in Design. The spectrum of partners contributing expertise, data, in-kind support, and funding represents a new level of integration. Our partners are AkzoNobel, CertainTeed, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, Gensler, Health in Buildings Roundtable, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), International WELL Building Institute, MSR Design, Steelcase, The Vitality Institute, and Wolf-Gordon. Members of these organizations are engaged in intersecting conversations about health, wellness, and design that affect people around our country and the world.
ASID will provide financial and in-kind support of the CGI commitment by convening and facilitating meetings, producing education and communications tools, tapping expertise in elements of healthy buildings, distributing the design protocols, and more.
