Material Bank Makes It Easier to Design Sustainably

When it launched in 2019, Material Bank revolutionized the way architecture and design professionals requested and received samples. Suddenly, rather than call each brand and wait a week for the envelope with the sample to arrive, Material Bank members could go to the platform’s site and choose among the dozens—and now thousands—of architectural, construction, and design materials on offer. Material Bank would gather the samples in one box, which would arrive to the member the next day. All for free.

The approached saved time. But it also had huge environmental benefits. Fewer packages meant less shipping waste; fewer shipments meant less carbon produced through transport.

Nearly five years later, Material Bank continues to innovate. The company’s new tools and features address all stages of the design process, introducing ways to create more responsibly and sustainably throughout. We spoke about the efforts with Elizabeth Margles, Material Bank’s Executive Vice President, Community and Marketing. Following are excerpts from our conversation.

Tracking carbon emissions and embedded carbon are increasingly important issues for A&D professionals. How is Material Bank addressing that need?

We have a proprietary Carbon Impact Program (CIP) that trains design and architectural firms to measure and track their carbon impact on projects. To date, we have over 150 firms registered.

The program has measurably changed the way the firms specify a project, the materials they select, and how they do business day-to-day. We often are very quick, in our industry, to tear down and redo. What we leave behind and what goes to waste has as much impact as any new material.

Tell me about the Inspiration feature that Material Bank is developing.

 [Inspiration] will be a design-specific search resource of unbelievable images, photographs, renderings, and artwork that cannot be found anywhere else on one site. It is an alternative to the homogenization and algorithmic-search platforms that keep feeding up the same images over and over. It will launch soon, so stay posted!