Dezeen promotion: materials knowledge base Material ConneXion and trend forecaster Li Edelkoort present LEFT/BRAIN/RIGHT: two conversations on the greening of architecture and design and the future of sustainable materials in New York on Monday 19 May.

In the first conversation, called 2010: The Future of Sustainable Materials, Material ConneXion's Dr. Andrew H. Dent will identify and discuss the sustainable materials and technologies that are transforming the design scene.

In the second, called Greening Perspectives 2010, Li Edelkoort will offer an emotional and human perspective on how green thinking is changing the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us.

Full details of the event follow:

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LEFT / BRAIN / RIGHT

Material ConneXion and Li Edelkoort present two conversations on the greening of architecture and design

Monday, May 19th
The Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street, New York City
2-4 pm – there will be a 20 minute break between talks with refreshments.

2010: The Future of Sustainable Materials – Dr. Andrew H. Dent

Dr. Andrew H. Dent, VP, Materials and Library Research, Material ConneXion, will discuss the sustainable materials and technologies that are transforming design today and the future opportunities that will redefine our built environment.

As we hurtle towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century, one realization stands in clear relief – we cannot continue 20th century industrial production methods and sustain a life on this planet. What worked for the industrial revolution will not work for our 21st century population growth, globalization and 24/7 culture. Materially speaking ,there ways through this crisis, and they involve a wholesale reconsideration of what we make, how we make it and what we do with it at the end of its life. We need a clearer understanding of where our ‘things’ come from, and also, ultimately, where they go.

For some industries, such as packaging and consumer disposables, there are partial solutions already in place that allow for biodegration or complete recycling of the material. For industries such as mobile communications, the issues are a little more complex, and may involve not just material choices, but shipping and disposal logistics, consumer usage and government regulation. There is however, a steady growth in the number of companies who are tackling these issues head on, and as well, new materials and technologies that are able to satisfy some of those companies’ most challenging needs.

Knowledge of these new materials, their comparison to existing solutions, and where we will see game changing breakthroughs in the near future are all essential to being a part of this next industrial revolution.

Greening Perspectives 2010 – Li Edelkoort

Li Edelkoort, founder and President of Trend Union, Edelkoort ETC, Edelkoort Inc., the non-profit organization Heartwear, and Chairwoman of Design Academy Eindhoven, will discuss the new bridges between Lifestyles and Architecture in the context of Green: the window into our souls that is altering our society, our landscapes, our aspirations, our surroundings, our surfaces and our notion of home and design.

Green is more than the new black. It is the window into our souls and the blueprint for our future. Greening has emerged as a state of mind, a deepening and widening philosophy for living that is altering our landscapes, our aspirations, our surroundings, our surfaces, and our notion of home.

The emergence of “slow” buildings is chipping away at the prevalence of fast-food architecture. We are drawing locally-harvested colors, textures, and customs into the home in socially and environmentally responsible ways and collapsing the divide between rural and urban.

Building new bridges that cultivate eccentricity and exchange between low and high tech, nature and man, country and urban, we are pushing forward and leaning back with equal intensity, placing folk and futurism within the same frame.

Encouraging slowness and reflection in the conception, construction, and consumption of our environments, greening is a movement with deeply emotional, political, and personal implications.

Never before has our choice of materials, colors, lighting, and structural configurations said so much about who we are, and where we are heading as a society.

Tickets: $300 / Student Price: $30

To reserve your space today, please register at [email protected]

For more information please email: [email protected]

Material ConneXion
127 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
212-842-2050
[email protected]
www.materialconnexion.com

Edelkoort Inc / Trend Union / View Magazines
The Firehouse
604 East Eleventh Street
New York, NY
212-420-7622
[email protected]
www.edelkoort.com