材料数据透明、容易访问和高效更新的时代来临了；现在进入Mindful MATERIALS！

材料健康，对于建筑居住者和地球意味着更健康的空间。对于设计师来说，就需要理解材料透明数据并且有意愿进行筛选。与数据可利用性同样重要的是——建立对信息的理解。随着越来越多的建筑师开始重视、要求并利用透明信息，我们的专业性可以影响并奖励生产对环境负作用小并且有积极影响的材料创新制造商。

新材料的考虑

五年前，大多数设计师的建筑选择因素清单上都不会出现材料透明度的考虑，比如：

●至少在1000ppm的水平上披露产品成分

●VOC排放测试

●生命周期内的环境影响（以EPD测量）

●碳指标

●制造商的可持续发展态度（考虑到其环境和社会优先程度）

现在，越来越多的制造商会提供材料透明信息，面临的挑战变成了在选择材料时考虑这些信息和材料的规格，尤其是要寻找足够的有透明信息的产品，从而为公共项目编制有竞争力的规范。

进入Mindful MATERIALS

Mindful MATERIALS（mM)

mM和GIGA承诺保证云库对使用者和制造商等免费。作为原始数据中心管理者，GIGA承诺既会从制造商和认证机构等接收信息，也会让信息流出mM库，到达使用者，最大限度地被使用和分享。GIGA正在积极地开发与认证机构和数据来源的集成协作，如SCS Global Services、Cradle to Cradle认证产品注册中心、HPD公共存储库、 国际生活未来学院申报产品数据库（International Living Future Institute’s Declare Products Database）等。使用者可以将他们的数据库链接到原始数据中心和mM库，确保在单一的行业访问点中可以搜索和链接到制造商的产品条目。

宣传

越来越多的设计师和建筑公司开始使用mM库，同时他们还提议制造商提供并维护其透明信息，因此，mM库的有效性将会持续增长。要求制造商将他们的产品信息上传到mM库，不仅增加了透明度要求，也传递了建筑师们想要为人类和地球选择最好产品的信号。而且，对于那些还没有健康与环境透明度信息的制造商来说，mM可以帮助他们开发和推广业务，有助于保持其在快速变化的市场中的竞争力。

mM的未来

mM库是一个不断在进步的工具，在建筑产品透明度和优化空间中，一些最聪明的人通过服务工作组来对此做出贡献。随着在认证程序中越来越详细的材料信息要求（比如良好的建筑标准），mM和GIGA正在努力地展示产品信息披露优化，细致要求化学成分这一程度。一个致力于家具与纺织品的工作小组正在确定可以帮助设计师评估产品类型的独特标准。此外，一些终端用户组织也在考虑将mM库作为他们的数据源，提供购买指导。

mM最初是一家设计公司用作材料库的产品标签系统，现在已经变成了一种可以在线浏览透明度信息的领先工具。在今天，材料成分、EPDs、排放数据等是人们重点关注的。

而其他类别信息，比如森林管理委员会（FSC）认证，FACTS（针对纺织品）和邻苯二甲酸酯（乙烯基产品增塑剂的化学品）等，正在慢慢发展。GIGA会不断接收行业反馈带来的引导，为用户和厂家建立新的特征信息。

原文：

The mindful MATERIALS Cloud Library: Navigating the maze of transparency information

By Nancy Hulsey, September 28, 2017

The time is now for materials data to be transparent, easily accessed, and efficiently updated; enter the mindful MATERIALS Cloud Library.

Material health equates to healthier spaces for building occupants and the planet. For designers, that requires an understanding of—and a willingness to sift through—material transparency data. And as important as the availability of that data is developing an understanding of the information. As more architects begin to value, request, and utilize transparency information, our profession has the ability to influence and reward innovative manufacturers who produce materials that reduce negative environmental and health impacts.

New material considerations

Five years ago, most designers’ checklists of building selection factors would not have included materials transparency considerations, such as:

●Disclosure of product ingredients to at least the 1,000-ppm level

● Identification of optimized products with eliminated chemicals of concern

● VOC emissions testing

●Lifecycle environmental Impacts (measured by the EPD)

● Embodied carbon metrics

●Manufacturers’ sustainability stances (their environmental and social priorities)

Today, the list of manufacturers providing material transparency information is expanding. The challenge now is to factor this information into material selections and specifications, particularly in finding enough products with transparency information to write a competitive specification for public projects.

Projects are fast-paced; a design team’s go-to products are familiar and easier to reselect; and integrating new data into the process is challenging. Not only are there many different sources for transparency information—on manufacturer websites, on certification databases, within certification scorecards, and in multiple material ingredient disclosure formats—but the body of information grows every day, meaning a data search from a month ago could already be outdated.

Enter mindful MATERIALS

Mindful MATERIALS (mM) began in 2014 as a transparency data-focused product labeling initiative at HKS, a large firm headquartered in Dallas. By highlighting products on design library shelves with easily accessed transparency information, the initiative sought to drive more health-centric and environmentally focused product selections on projects.

The initiative quickly gained traction and generated interest, in both the broader industry and among manufacturers looking to promote their transparency efforts. Three years later, mM has grown into a volunteer-led collaborative movement promoting assembly and storage of transparency data. In February 2017, the mM Collaborative launched the mM Cloud Library, developed by GIGA, the technology partner and creator of the ORIGIN material data hub. To date, thousands of products, representing nearly 100 manufacturer brands, are in the library. Hundreds of users from dozens of design firms and other user entities—from academic institutions to property leasing management corporations—access the mM Library.

Manufacturers upload their product data for free in GIGA’s ORIGIN material hub and then request a mM review of the data before it is published in the library. Volunteers within the Collaborative, along with BuildingGreen, review the product data for accuracy before it is published for public consumption.

The mM Collaborative and GIGA are committed to keeping the cloud-based library free to user and manufacturer alike. As the data hub manager, GIGA is fully committed to both receiving information from manufacturers and certifying bodies, and to allowing information to flow out of the mM Library to other resources to use and share, maximizing its reach.

GIGA is actively developing integration collaborations with certifying bodies and data sources like SCS Global Services, the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Registry, HPD Public Repository, and the International Living Future Institute’s Declare Products Database. Groups can connect their database digitally to Origin and the mM Library to ensure the latest transparency data can be searched and linked to manufacturer’s product entries, within a single industry access point.

Advocacy

As more designers and architecture firms use the mM Library and advocate for manufacturers to provide and maintain their transparency information, the effectiveness of the tool will continue to grow. Asking manufacturers to upload their product information to the library increases the demand for transparency, and also signals that architects want to choose the best products for people and planet. Furthermore, encouraging manufacturers that don’t yet have health and environmental transparency information to develop and promote their business will help them stay competitive in a quickly changing marketplace.

The future of mindful MATERIALS

Mindful MATERIALS is an evolving tool. Some of the brightest minds in the building product transparency and optimization space are contributing to it by serving on working groups. With increasingly detailed material information required for certification programs like the WELL Building Standard, the mM Collaborative and GIGA are working toward showcasing product optimization, even to the chemical level. A working group dedicated to furniture and textiles is finalizing the unique criteria to help designers evaluate these product types. Some end-user groups are considering using mM as their data source for purchasing guidance.

The mM initiative began as a product labeling system for physical libraries in design firms, and has now become a leading tool to view transparency information online. As of today, material ingredients, EPDs, and emissions data testing are highlighted, but additional categories such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, FACTS (for textiles) and phthalate-free (phthalates are chemicals used as plasticizers in vinyl products) are in development. GIGA will be guided by industry feedback to build new features for both users and manufacturers.

Whether you’re new to product transparency, already use transparency data to make more informed product choices for your clients, or fall somewhere in the middle of the transparency experience spectrum, sign up and create a free login to access the mM Library and try it out for your next project. Incorporating transparency information into product selection is where the industry is heading, and the mM Library can be a potent tool for maintaining relevance in the rapidly evolving building material marketplace.

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