Efficency, safety and healthy materials in sustainabile interior design
Authors: M Obeidat Islam , Obeidat Manar 
Published: April 2015

Introduction

Most of the life span costs of a building can be saved on the interior materials. Interior materials must be developed to incorporate efficacy, safety and health including custodial, maintenance, repair and replacement so that better informed decisions can be made about appropriate sustainable materials.Research PurposesThe purpose of this study is to explore interior materials in sustainable design process, and how designers specify sustainable interior materials in the built environment.The Objectives of the StudyThe objective of this study is to find a participating process in developing a decision-making tool to specify sustainable interior materials for interior environment.Research QuestionsHow can interior design materials impact the health, safety, and well-being of occupants in the built environment? And how and interior designers integrate goals of sustainable materials into the design process?MethodologyA review of literature relating to interior materials and sustainability was conducted, and a model was developed to quantify the relationships between sustainable materials and the impact of the physical environment on the health, safety, and well-being of occupants in the built environment based on the prior studies.FindingsInterior designers should integrate goals of sustainability into the building design process. Theyshould:- Use new materials with low environmental impact.- use low service life cost as well as qualitative criteria when selecting interior materials.- Select materials with a low life cycle cost; those which show little cost impact after the initial purchase and that support sustainable design.- Select materials with low maintenance and long replacement cycles to reduce environmental impact, as continuing costs associated with operations and maintenance are very large and often outweigh the low initial material cost.- Consider environmental impact (recyclable and biodegradable) and life cycle costs of interior materials when specifying products.- Consider how recycling programs (back-of-the-house paper, kitchen waste, etc.) will impact facilities design and layout when planning the facility.- Install compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in interior facilities to inexpensively yet effectively decrease energy and water consumption.- Understand that including sustainable design features (e.g., daylighting, low-emission adhesives and paints) in buildings may also provide health-related benefits that reduce illnesses.- Integrate diverse perspectives and foster a collaborative spirit among stakeholders and design professionals to achieve the goals of a sustainable design project.- enhance visual access to the building and minimize the generation of heat associated with interior materials.- Reuse materials from other sources in adaptive ways, such as floor decking and structural columns recovered from abandoned sites.- Incorporate sustainable attributes into new designs by using abundant daylighting; efficient heating, cooling, and ventilation systems; wood flooring from certified sustainable forests; acoustical ceiling tiles with high recycled content; and biocomposite (made of recycled newspaper and soy bean fibers) countertops, shelving, and display fixtures.