HOW-TO DESIGN SUSTAINABLY

Sustainable Interior Design

A really useful book dealing comprehensively and clearly with sustainability in interior design practice: an unwieldy subject with a million facets to get your head around before you even think about live projects, entrenched construction habits and unreceptive clients.

Chloe Bullock understands this, knows the industry inside out and has a knack for unravelling the mess.

There are 11 chapters looking behind familiar headlines like biophilic design, circular economy and ethical business to see what’s going on; from history, theory, concepts and statistics to practical application and using as-built projects to make the intangible real. Each section introduces a who’s who in thinking, making and doing in the field, with extra links for further reading. 

Something I like about the book is the way it keeps returning to what can I do? While we know there are enormous systems issues largely outside our control, incremental change remains both important and do-able. 

One example is a piece in the reuse section on alternative, modular, demountable kitchens. Part of every designer’s day job in one form or another, the heart of the home and workplace and a huge investment, yet as fast as we design them in they fall apart or are ripped out. A shift in thinking away from disposable to adaptable for this one element could make a big impact.

Spanish company Kitchens For Life use a frame as the base so a kitchen today can easily become storage for somewhere else tomorrow; and in the UK there are any number of high quality joinery manufacturers like Somer making kitchens that can be refinished or taken apart for reassembly pretty much anywhere. As usual scale and cost are the issues, and persuading clients to look sideways; still, we can and should start by thinking differently and researching options to change the dial.

A small book, loads of excellent research and insight and a great format for starting simple, building confidence and opening the door for wider understanding.

Sustainable Interior Design Chloe Bullock