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The Sustainability Generation at Work
Interior Design Profile
Ann Molteni, Matt Locke, Beth Boase
Written by Cliff Newell for The Lake Oswego Review, August 3, 2006. Reprinted with permission.
Kelcey Beardsley, director of the interior design program, believes Marylhurst University is only at the beginning of its influence in promoting sustainable practices in the Northwest.
That's because an increasing number of graduates are going into their careers having received strong backgrounds in sustainability at Marylhurst.
"This department has doubled in size," Beardsley said, "and our new people are grounded in sustainability."
Graduates are already putting what they've learned into practice in their careers.
"In all my projects, sustainability has been one of the forefront issues," said Matt Locke, who will soon complete a BFA degree.
Locke has a checklist of sustainability practices he puts into designs:
- Use of day lighting, in order to keep costs down.
- Using recycled products.
- Cradle-to-cradle design in which materials are recycled all the way through.
- Space planning, in which natural light and other energy-saving factors are used.
Locke hopes to design hotels and restaurants, and in them "sustainability will absolutely have a role."
Ann Molteni, a 2006 Marylhurst graduate who works as an interior designer for WSG in Portland, said, "The biggest thing I got was an emphasis of being aware of the impact of materials on the environment and how they can help the client in the long run."
Although none of her classes at Marylhurst focused specifically on sustainability, Molteni said, "All my classes touched upon green materials. They brought sustainability to the forefront of my research."
Despite the remarkable recent growth in sustainability awareness, Molteni said that not all of her prospective customers are catching the wave.
"One of my biggest things is client awareness," she said. "I want them to choose the materials that have less impact. Like in a health care setting it would be nice if instead of plastics they chose Corian, which is a more natural material, or some of the corn-based products that are now on the market.
"But if they're not aware of sustainability, it's hard to sell it. There's definitely a chance they'll blow it when it comes to making the right choices."
Still, Molteni says that sustainability is "definitely growing in popularity," especially in the Portland area, where it has become a major focus.
Beth Boase already has an extremely strong personal and philosophical commitment to sustainability. In fact, she took all the sustainability-oriented classes she could and even did her BFA thesis on sustainability.
"It underlies so much of what I do," said Boase, who plans to earn a master's degree in environmental design. "Instead of using vinyl or linoleum on floors I want to use bamboo or cork. There are so many options. It's the tip of the iceberg."
The mother of a 5-year-old daughter, Boase asks, "How can I leave the world a better place for her? With my career in interior design I can do that.
"Sustainability can be done in a way that is so economically viable that it will pay for itself. That makes perfect sense to me. It costs us less money and serves us better."