“Transparency” has been a buzzword for some time in architecture and design, now that sustainability is much more mainstream. However, in the last few years, the definition of the word has been expanding to include disclosure of how materials and products can affect health. Announced today, The Quartz Project is a new database aimed at providing the AEC industry and public alike with robust transparent information on common building materials and products. This free resource is a collaborative effort of the Healthy Building Network, Google, technology company Flux, and sustainability-software company thinkstep.
The project essentially aggregates isolated and disjointed industry data that is currently available, such as Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and health hazard data from widely accepted and consistent methodologies like the Pharos Project. It then standardizes the culled information in an organized, easy-to-digest database to enable AEC stakeholders to compare and evaluate materials based on environmental and human-health impacts.
“Information gaps and incompatible data sets can make data difficult to analyze,” Heather Gadonniex, director of sustainable building and construction at thinkstep, said in a statement. “Quartz came together because no single organization can fully solve the challenge of curating the enormous amount of information necessary for meaningful analysis and comparison.”
While not every single building product category will be represented, the 100 most common types will be, from concrete and plywood to acoustical ceiling tiles and laminated glass. The database will be unveiled in a presentation tomorrow at the VERGE Conference in San Jose, Calif.