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For a designer to be concerned about environmental issues is almost tantamount to biting the hand that feeds you. The results of many sucessful design careers are currently clogging our landfils at this very moment; and even if it isn't our good grips that is doing the most damage it is the manufacturing, building, and automotive industries that we, as designers, are married to that produces so much of our polution and garbage. This column, the first in a series, will focus on the good, the bad, and the ugly in the relationship between product design and the environment. A positive way to begin this series is with a seldom seen direct action. So often environmentally influenced design is kept in the confines of the corporate design lab or in the small (but growing) niche maket of raw and recycled products. It is unusual to find a mainstream product that follows through with the goal of being resource efficient. Often it is the corporate backing or high cost of experimentation that hold back these products. That is why it is all the more comendable to see a project such as the recraft East house (elevations at right) on Martha's Vineyard. This spec house, financed by the architect, is intended to serve as an example of what can be done in terms of environmentally friendly building. The building industry is a notorious producer of harmful marterials, yet ReCraft's designer Kate Warner uses almost entirely recycled and resource efficient materials and design solutions. Though not extreme in its solution the ReCraft East House attempts to bring a bit of extra-normalcy to the environmentalist movement.
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 East elevation
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There is no doubt that a wholesale rethinking of our culture's approach to designing and consuming is necessary. But while we are waiting for the acceptance of these ideas, it is reassuring that there are people out there who are promoting ecological choices in a language that is safe and understandable to the mainstream. Warner states that her "mission...is to demonstrate that the use of resource-efficient products does not diminish the desired quality or appearance of a house." This simple goal reveals just how far away we are from the mainstream acceptance of environmentally sensitive building standards. In this case education was the primary goal. Teaching old dogs new tricks. This is a begining and a courageous move on the part of an individual designer. The inspiration for this project came from the Center for Resourceful Building Technology's 1991 model house in Montana, which leads one to the hopeful conclusion that perhaps a domino effect might be taking place. The traditionally styled cape house uses recycled building products such as blown-in recycled news paper insulation, salvaged wood, ceramic tiles made from recycled glass to point out how trash can be turned into resources. Although this is a far cry from the dynamic, experimental eco-buildings we often see in the press this is a modest solution for the stubborn reality of today.
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