In this episode, ThinkLab interviews David Schwarz, founding partner at HUSH, about the design firm’s innovative approach to sustainability, and Rebecca Best, head of sustainability at Material Bank, on how the world’s largest material aggregator is helping designers make more sustainable decisions. 

 Our first guest is David Schwarz, founding partner at HUSH, an experience design firm. Schwarz shares forward-thinking ways HUSH is leveraging design to connect the occupants of a space to how their own daily microdecisions affect the sustainability of a building. To that end, he describes an award-winning project, designed in partnership with United Therapeutics, which sought to make a building’s cutting-edge engineering visible and able to be appreciated by workers and visitors.  

Our next guest, Rebecca Best, is vice president of sustainability at Material Bank. She explains that sustainability is so complex — requiring designers to balance climate, human health, and social justice concerns — that it can’t really be simplified. She counsels design firms to focus on making the decision-making process more efficient and shares strategies for how to empower clients.  

 

In this episode: 

[4:12] David details the two-part mission behind HUSH’s memorable project with United Therapeutics. 

[15:55] “We don't want to require that our clients become sustainability and energy experts.” 

[24:17] Rebecca describes the most pressing sustainability concerns by sector. 

[28:56] Rebecca speaks to the importance of celebrating small wins as a way to encourage collective action. 

Connect with our interviewees on LinkedIn: 

David Schwarz  

Rebecca Best 

 

This season of Design Nerds Anonymous is brought to you by Mannington Commercial, theMART, and NeoCon, companies doing big things to move the design industry forward. 

 

Download our leading-edge playbook: 5 Personas and 50 Ways to Design Their Phygital Journey. 

 

Design Nerds Anonymous is a proud member of the SURROUND Podcast Network. Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Design Nerds Anonymous was produced and edited by SANDOW Design Group, with music from Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to the podcast production team: Hannah Viti, Wize Grazette, and Samantha Sager. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.