Striking the Balance Between Style and Sustainability

Date published 2 August 2016

Solar panels and wind farms are generally the first products that spring to mind when we talk about sustainable design, however another way to significantly reduce your carbon footprint is by using eco-friendly building materials.

What is sustainable design?

Sustainable design relates to the practice of creating products that comply with the principles of ecological sustainability. The purpose of this is to greatly reduce (or eliminate) negative environmental impact through intelligent design decisions – such as use of renewable or recyclable materials in construction and production, minimising waste during the production and use phases, and purchasing higher quality products that don’t need to be replaced as often. Urban Effects follows these values through every stage of development of its products – from design, to prototyping, to final production

The winning relationship

Sustainable design has the remarkable ability to incorporate the built environment into its green surroundings in an effective and sustainable approach, whilst positively affecting the way we use energy. The issue is, although there have been rapid advancements in sustainable design over the past decade, many conventional designs are unattractive, bulky and are not quite on-trend.

Achieving a compromise between attractiveness and efficient function is vitally important, if we are to increase the prevalence of sustainable design.

By increasing the aesthetic nature of the sustainable construction materials, we are increasing the level of consumer attraction. After all, if consumers aren’t willing to integrate energy saving installations into their built environments because they don’t look good, we are fighting a losing battle.
Ideally there still needs to be a balance between sustainable products and maintaining a high level of durability and performance regardless of the usage situation.

The future of environmental design

So what does the future hold with sustainable building materials and design? As the world is constantly adapting to new and inventive sustainable methods, there has been an increase in positive attitudes towards eco-friendly materials. As the attitude and interest in the products increase, manufacturers are becoming more attuned to the aesthetic requirements of their target markets.

As a result of this, fewer compromises are being made and we are moving towards a place where durability, design and functionality are working together in unison. We believe that today’s industry leader must commit to modern sustainable materials, and the way to encourage this school of thought is to create products that are conscious of both function and form.