Sustainable Interior Designer

Projects are influenced by ensuring efficient use of space, choosing materials with low environmental impacts (such as wood or renewable materials), and reducing energy consumption, pollution, and waste.

Designing a new space can be a fun and creative process. Whether it’s a more personalized room as you enter your teenage years, a new office space, or a historical building on a university campus undergoing renovations, there is something about being able to make a blank space come to life.

But in the midst of excitement developing a blueprint, picking out colour schemes, the layout of furniture, and even adding the latest technological gadgets, we may be oblivious to the negative effects it may have on the environment. This includes whether a room that has a lot of lightbulbs which means it uses more energy. Or even people forgetting to turn taps off and it wasting water.

Taking this into account when designing a space, a sustainable interior designer may decide to incorporate more windows into a room so less artificial light is needed or add sensors to taps to lessen the amount of water wasted.

Opinions and preferences change over time and as a sustainable interior designer, you need to be mindful of creating flexible spaces that can easily be adapted to fit the needs of those using it.

Sustainable interior designers are committed to finding ways to balance aesthetics and functionality with choices that reduce the environmental impact of their designs.

In this role, you are innovative, creative, and perceptive to find a common ground between meeting the needs of the client, whilst being cognisant of the potential impacts on the environment.

When talk of environmental awareness comes into play, some assume that it means giving up the aesthetic and beauty in a space.

As a sustainable interior designer, you refute this idea. You can create a beautiful space, being the one who decides what materials and products should be utilized.

Through every new project, you factor in energy efficiency, indoor air quality, minimal land usage, and low impact materials.

A clear example of when a sustainable interior designer played a key role would be during the renovations of Triffo Hall at the University of Alberta. One of the oldest buildings on campus, it’s hard to believe once you see how modern and technologically advanced it is.

Whilst undergoing renovations, 97% of the original materials of the building were reused and in the new layout.

The cement on the floor is still the same material from when the building was first finished in 1915 but it has been cleaned and polished as though it were brand new!

It was through the aid of someone like a sustainable interior designer that the building was awarded a STARS Gold rating for overall sustainability performance in the summer of 2017. It has also received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certification.

Using a sustainable interior designer brings many benefits. From an economic standpoint, although there may be a high initial investment in capital such as solar panels or low-flow toilets, in the long run, the benefits outweigh the costs as less energy would be used to power a space.

As a sustainable interior designer, you have countless opportunities to create sustainable environments and increase awareness of sustainability.