Online and Eco-Friendly Tuesday, January 09, 2007 Designers get a taste of green materials, building practices, and resources at Greenexhibits.org Designers looking to learn more about environmentally friendly design practices, materials, and resources should make tracks to a computer and seek out greenexhibits.org, an online resource for all things green operated by the Madison (WI) Children’s Museum. The site went live last year, and serves as a multi-purpose tool for designers interested in earth-friendly exhibit design. Looking for green design materials? Got ‘em. Want to browse through some case studies? Check. Need a reference on best practices for earth-friendly design, and contacts to suppliers and green organizations? You get the picture. Brenda Baker, director of exhibits at the Madison Children’s Museum, said her institution established the site because of its own success as an institution supporting green design. It wanted to help other designers get moving toward going green. “We developed the site so other museums and people who build exhibits and environments could have a resource to get started,” Baker says. And the Madison Children’s Museum knows a thing or two about the subject, as it has been honored in the past for its work in sustainable exhibit design with the Promising Practices Award from the Association of Children’s Museums. The Web site was designed to be accommodating to everyone—even designers with zero background in green design—and is set up in six easy-to-navigate sections. The “Begin” section focuses on what green design is and why it matters, and provides a little bit of background on visionary green design thinking. A “Rethink” area focuses on exhibits and environments (and the vast design possibilities using green materials) and includes a checklist for designers to use when planning an environmentally friendly project. “The checklist is a rundown of what you should think about when designing exhibits and environments—like the idea that smaller is better, and how you should optimize your materials and reuse what you can. It’s about rethinking the whole menu, not just the recipe,” Baker says. Practical issues about material durability, aesthetics, what it means to rethink costs, and how to calculate costs are found in the “Rethink” section. The “Plan” area focuses on the bottom line—how to get buy-in within your organization. It also features tips to remember when trying to sell the concepts of a green design project. The “Connect” section boasts links to books, articles, and Web sites focused on green design. There is a growing list of organizations that specialize in promoting green design, such as the U.S. Green Building Council. “It has offices in many communities all over the country, and if (designers) don’t know anyone in their community to help them get started, they can contact the organization to get the names of people in their city or state to help them get started,” Baker says. The real meat-and-potatoes portion of the site is the “Build” area, which focuses on what materials to use and what kinds of chemicals to avoid. Alternative, green-friendly options for woods, metals, paints and finishes, plasters, wall coverings, hardware, paper and graphics, and lighting can all be found there. Finally, the “Dreams” area features case studies of green exhibit projects, including those in the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Keep greenexhibits.org in mind next time your project could use a touch of green.
Main Office: 10 Norden Place Norwalk, CT 06855 Tel. (203) 854-6730 Fax (203) 854-6735 © 2010 Red 7 Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us