How might AI transform the way we design sustainable materials? This session explores using generative AI to design nature-inspired, emotionally resonant materials & accelerates eco-friendly adoption by helping designers visualize their applications. By generating textures & color maps & applying them to CAD designs using tools like Keyshot and AI platforms, we can create realistic product renders that connect today's lab innovations to tomorrow's market-ready designs. Examples like cactus leather & the wabi-sabi aesthetic highlight AI's challenges and opportunities in capturing the detailed, imperfect beauty of sustainable natural materials--qualities that deeply resonate with humans. Attendees will learn to integrate AI into workflows for sustainable innovation & use nature-inspired palettes to create and visualize materials that evoke humanizing, nurturing triggers. This session blends technology, craft, and sustainability to inspire innovative approaches to eco-conscious design.

Demolition projects have a significant impact on climate change due to the energy and resources required, as well as the emissions created during the process. Material recovery through deconstruction is an unparalleled opportunity for reducing embodied carbon, while also diverting construction waste, reducing exposure to toxic pollutants, protecting natural resources, and creating green jobs.

As we stand at the intersection of art and science, of imitation and innovation, of consumption and creation, creativity's future holds unique potential. In an era where information floods our senses and technology reshapes thinking patterns, the ability to focus has become a precious resource. Our physical surroundings play a key role in enhancing or hindering individual and group creative capabilities. This session explores how scientific research into environmental psychology is leveraged to create spaces that support focus and creativity. From ambient sounds to colors, natural materials, light, & spatial configuration, our environments shape creative potential. Understanding these principles isn't just about designing better workplaces--it's about creating environments that help navigate information while maintaining the clarity for innovative thinking. The future of creativity depends on our ideas, and ability to create spaces that help us think clearly enough to have them.

GEN Z. DESIGNS BY AND FOR THIS NEW GENERATION. What matters to Gen Z? How does this generation think about life, work, play, sustainability and collaboration? Insights from the real world of Furniture Design at NU. Hemant Jha created and teaches a new course at NU: Design Objects/Furniture Design. 10 student makers from across disciplines at NU create 10 unique pieces of furniture, providing unique personal, real-world insights into what matters to this generation of future consumers and buyers. What's the future of furniture? Stay ahead of the curve. Join Hemant in conversation at this creative seminar.

The renovation and restack of 13 floors at the United Airlines headquarters in Chicago created a hybrid workplace infused with a dynamic energy that reinforces employee pride. This space brings together staff through shared experiences connected to United's brand story: an airline where Good Leads the Way. Re-use and revitalization of the existing space was a priority to align with United's sustainability goals. Circular design strategies were implemented, creating a next-life in lieu of an end-life for many of the tenant improvement materials and furniture. After optimizing reuse, new FF&E specifications included criteria for recycled content, material and occupant health, yielding a significant embodied carbon reduction of over 3,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions. This large-scale project case study demonstrates how circular design/economy strategies can be incorporated to deliver successful next-generation workplace environments while having a positive impact on people and planet.

In this presentation, our speakers will provide a summary of how the various forms of intellectual property (utility and design patents, copyrights, and trademarks) can be employed to protect your company's inventions, product designs, artistic works, and brands in the commercial interior design industry. IP portfolio development and maintenance, as well as rights enforcement and online takedown efforts, will be covered.

An icon in Camden, NJ for over 150 years, Campbell's continues to invest in and reinvent its headquarters campus. The re-imagination of the headquarter campus started with the Jacobs designed Campbell Employee Center (amenities building) and new workplace strategy for office space in 2010 which transformed the front door of the campus and employee experience. In 2022, Campbell's embarked on another re-imagination of its campus to align with key business drivers for site consolidation, improved team connection for innovation and support new ways of flexible working for people. Key considerations included financial, operational, cultural, and employee success, with the overarching goal to build on the momentum of Campbell's business model of creating people-to-people energy and transform how people come together in a new hybrid work model.

Soundscapes will be the focus of this CEU: what they are, how we can describe them, and how designers can use them to create sonic environments and intentional experiences. The sensory and physiological benefits of natural soundscapes, which encompass geophony, biophony, and anthrophony, will be demonstrated. The presentation will elucidate the distinct differences between anthropogenic sound and noise, emphasizing the unfortunate reality that both external and internal noise can detrimentally impact human health. Furthermore, we propose that designers should integrate sound walks and zone mapping into the earliest phases of design, including programmatic and schematic design, to enhance comfort and productivity in interior spaces. Finally, the presentation will illustrate dynamic sound solutions by specifying materials with texture and high NRC. Going beyond the sound plan, we will also integrate environmental sounds through both natural and artificial means.

When the Materials Pledge was created in 2018, it challenged design and construction professionals to think holistically about building materials. The Pledge's aspirational statements redefined sustainable building materials as those that support five fundamental impact areas: Human Health, Climate Health, Ecosystem Health, and Social Health + Equity in a Circular Economy. But how do you move from these aspirational statements to meaningful action? In this session, you'll leave with practical steps that you can take to live up to your company's pledges and sustainable materials goals. Hear directly from leaders of the AIA Materials Pledge Working Group and sustainable building materials experts about how you can leverage industry momentum and tools and metrics to guide and track progress to implement your materials goals in practice.

This presentation explores how innovative 3D printing technology can drive sustainable practices in workplace design. The presenters will share the principles of circularity, emphasizing the reuse, regeneration, and sustainable sourcing of materials. They will also dive into the five pillars of circular design--future reconfiguration, ease of implementation, low carbon footprint, reclaimed and upcycled materials, and design for disassembly--and highlight the role of 3D printing in achieving these goals. By sharing the practical applications of 3D printing for creating furniture, demountable walls, acoustic panels, and more using sustainable materials such as bioplastics, reclaimed wood, and algae-based filaments, attendees will gain insight into how these innovations are shaping the future of sustainable design and fostering environmentally responsible practices. A live demo will show how 3D printing with circular economy principles accelerates their scalable adoption.