Sustainability

• Encourage employees to minimize their commute, use public transportation, and/or walk and ride bikes to the studio.
• Carpool when more than one person is going to the same location.
• Offer bike repair assistance at the Studio.

• Favor local sources of supplies and purchase them in bulk/grouped into the fewest trips.

• Minimize material sample requests.
• Utilize digital means of reviewing design and preserving project/business records. Print on paper minimally.
• Donate samples and other weird items to craft centers, schools, theaters for set building, etc.
• Recycle well (rigorously follow local guidelines).

• Minimize utility consumption through high-efficiency appliances and heating/cooling. Use smart thermostats that adjust for human presence and routines.
• Encourage tool-sharing for personal projects. Use our collective knowledge to help each other learn new skills that enable independence (thereby conserving resources).

Choose sustainable materials (graphic substrates, carpet, exhibitry, etc.). Opt for materials that are durable, reusable, renewable, recycled, recyclable, sustainably sourced, and/or clean to produce.

Encourage the museum and printing industries to prioritize sustainability.

• Demand will lead to supply. Stay current on the greenest materials and develop resource inventory of known “green” products.
• Include sustainability goals in our specifications manuals for fabrication contractors.
• When sustainable materials are not available, prioritize durability.

Prevent pollution.

• Choose materials that are cleaner to produce and have no/low VOC off-gassing.
• Confirm that vendors are adhering to guidelines concerning chemicals, waste, fumes, etc.

Reduce waste.

• Retrofit existing exhibitry when possible.
• Consider the life-cycle of what we design/build. Ask questions about how our products can have a second life after their primary usage. Consistently ask, how can we keep our products out of landfills?
• Choose vendors with green practices, and request that they do all they can to prevent waste (reduce, reuse, recycling/compost.
• Be efficient with design to maximize material yields out of sheet good sizes and available product dimensions.

• Employ rigorous proofing to avoid re-do’s.
• Request small samples that ship together.
• Give preference to local fabricators.
• Encourage sustainability standards for our fabricators.

• Encourage use of local installation labor.
• Maximize the on-site durations for staff to reduce travel, and use apartment accommodations when returning home is not feasible.
• Ask installation teams to combine local trips for supplies.

• Maximize productivity of in-person meetings to minimize number of trips.
• Use teleconferencing and other virtual technologies for reviews, meetings, and discussions.

• State directly in proposals and process commitments that our choices are informed by sustainability.  Ask clients to recognize this priority.
• Understand our clients’ and partners’ sustainability policies. Learn from them and capitalize on shared goals.

• When relevant, promote sustainability and resource conservation in our exhibit messaging.
• When exhibit subjects are not centered on sustainability, use opportunities to connect the role of resource management in human history (who has them, where they’re from, how they’re obtained).