This course is part of the Principles of Healthier Materials and Sustainable Building ExpertTrack
Building Design: Material Selection for Healthier Communities
Delve into healthier materials design and unpack the challenges and opportunities in selecting materials for healthier building.
Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
3 hours100% online
How it worksIncluded in an ExpertTrack
Course 3 of 3
Building Design: Material Selection for Healthier Communities
Explore the design principles for choosing healthier materials
In building design, there is no perfect product – so how do designers make the best choice for healthier materials? On this three-week course, you’ll address this dilemma and gain an understanding of how designers identify and evaluate healthier materials.
You’ll take a deep dive into the strategies and guiding principles for designers and what healthier materials design looks like.
Within this, you’ll explore the current challenges and opportunities in the design, architecture, and construction industries.
Learn the process behind building healthier communities
As you approach healthier materials design, you’ll look at the fundamental goals and principles of the material health process.
Exploring material properties, design qualities, and operational considerations, you’ll understand how a designer comes to choose healthier materials. Within this, you’ll discover how designers can be participants and advocates for social justice.
Explore healthier built environments
On the final week of the course, you’ll explore the process of finding and evaluating healthier products for the built environment.
Within this, you’ll unpack the role of the retailer and how retailers can contribute to transforming the market for healthier materials.
Guided by the experts at Parsons School of Design’s Healthy Materials Lab, you’ll finish the course with the knowledge of how designers make informed decisions to create healthier built environments.
Syllabus
Week 1
Strategies and Guiding Principles for Designers
Course and Week Introduction
Welcome to Week 1! It's time to find out what you'll learn about this week. You'll also have the chance to meet your instructors and introduce yourself to your fellow learners.
What Does Healthier Materials Design Look Like?
This week you'll learn about what healthier materials design looks like. You'll think about how to approach healthier materials design and why it's important.
Current Challenges and Opportunities in Architecture, Design, and Construction Industries
This week you'll explore the current challenges and opportunities in architecture, design, and construction industries. You'll think about how to prioritize materials and where there are opportunities in the industry.
Designer's Dilemma: No Perfect Products
Let's discuss the Designer's Dilemma. There are no perfect products in the building industry. Designers always have to make trade offs when determining what materials to use. This activity explains some of those trade offs.
Week 1 Wrap-Up
We've come to the end of Week 1. It's time to reflect on what you've learned and look forward.
Week 2
Approaching Healthier Materials Design Within a Community Context
Welcome to Week 2
Welcome to Week 2! Let's get a look at what you'll learn about this week.
Fundamental Goals and Principles of the Material Health Process
Let's look at the fundamental goals and principles of the material health process. We'll learn about materials properties and what principles to consider in materials selection.
Designers as Collaborators and Participants in Social Justice
Designers are collaborators and participants in social justice. This activity explains their role and how they can advocate for change to keep communities healthier.
The Role of Occupants
Let's explore the role of occupants. Once a building is turned over for use, what role do the occupants, building managers, and maintenance staff play in keeping it a healthy space.
Week 2 Wrap-Up
We've come to the end of Week 2! It's time to reflect on what you've learned and look forward.
Week 3
Implementing our Vision of a Healthier Built Environment
Welcome to Week 3
Welcome to Week 3! Let's see what you'll learn about this week.
The Role of Retailers
Learn about what role manufacturers and retailers play in healthier materials. We'll think about transparency and how you can find out what's in building materials to make good choices.
Common Building Product Challenges
Let's take a look at some common building product challenges. Think about how to prioritize materials when there are trade offs to be made.
Overcoming Obstacles
While there are obstacles and challenges in selecting building materials, we can explore a few ways you can overcome those. You'll learn about incentive programs and how those create healthier buildings.
Envisioning Healthier Built Environments
Now, let's envision healthier built environments. We'll consider what the future looks like and why this work is so important. You'll see some case studies of leaders in the industry, and how you can follow their lead.
Week 3 Wrap-Up
We've come to the end of Week 3 and the end of this course! Take a short quiz to reinforce your learning, and make sure you've taken away the important lessons. It's time to reflect on what you've learned and look forward.
Prove you're job ready
Highlight the new, job-relevant skills you’ve gained and supplement existing qualifications with a hard-earned, industry-specific digital certificate – plus one for every course within your ExpertTrack.
- Learn the latest in your chosen industry or subject.
- Complete each course and pass assessments.
- Receive certificates validated by the educating organisation.
- Impress employers with learning outcomes you can add to your CV.
- Make your career dreams a reality.
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Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Classify metrics for health goals based on specific audiences and design needs
- Evaluate design options and materials against specific criteria
- Model informed decision making about design and materials based on context and comparison
- Explain who vulnerable populations are and why its important to consider them in building design
- Describe the role of key players in the built environment
- Explore the future of healthier built environments
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone interested in how health and sustainability are interconnected with the built environment.
It will be particularly useful for those working, or planning to one day work in, in design, or passionate about materials design processes.
Who will you learn with?
I am co-Director of Parsons Healthy Materials Lab in New York. See our work at
healthymaterialslab.org and keep in touch at https://healthymaterialslab.org/email-signup
Catherine, has led educational programming at Parsons Healthy Materials Lab since 2015. She also teaches at Columbia GSAPP and The New School.
https://healthymaterialslab.org/email-signup
Who developed the course?
Parsons School of Design
For more than a century, Parsons School of Design has been inspired by the transformative potential of design. Today, the school’s groundbreaking academic programs carry forward that mission, making Parsons the number one design school in the U.S. and among the top three globally. At the heart of a comprehensive university — The New School — Parsons draws on a range of academic fields to deliver a uniquely interdisciplinary education enriched by the resources of its home in New York City
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