Material Health: Design Frontiers Book Launch: A Celebratory Evening with Friends and Supporters

Our book sold out within weeks of its release, showing the strong appetite for a unified shift to healthier design strategies.

Order your copy here.

On the heels of our North American release date, we celebrated the launch of our book Material Health: Design Frontiers, which debuted in the UK late last year. We were surprised by the huge crowd and excited to see designers, architects, manufacturers, contractors, doctors, scientists, policymakers, students, and faculty all in one room celebrating Material Health!

We partnered with food distributor Groundcycle and independent bookseller Head Hi for a celebratory evening towards creating a healthier and more sustainable future. Supporting local, organic agriculture and reducing food waste, Groundcycle provides healthy snacks that help close the loop between produce and compost. Specializing in design publications, Head Hi sold copies of the book and put it in conversation with their rich cultural and local programming headquartered in Brooklyn.

Featured speakers included editors of the book Alison Mears and Jonsara Ruth who shared excerpts from the publication, and architect Aaron Dorf, pediatrician Dr. Maida Galvez, and sustainable construction expert Amanda Kaminsky—all of whom have been at the forefront of shaping Material Health in their respective fields for over a decade.

The book is the culmination of a series of ongoing dialogues produced over the course of 2019-2022. Co-founders at Health Materials Lab started the Lab in 2015 with questions about the current state of design practice, precisely, “how does our current understanding of the fundamental issues threatening our planet and human species change the way we practice and teach design and architecture?” With a symposium gathered in 2019 discussing many of the topics presented in the book, and the bulk of production undertaken throughout a global pandemic, Material Health: Design Frontiers is, thus, a testament to this urgent moment of a major shift in global health with increasing planetary challenges.

About the book:

Material Health: Design Frontiers is a definitive overview of the burgeoning field of Material Health and argues that there is an urgent need for new paths and practices in architecture and design in order to create healthier futures for everyone. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, it offers an overview of how design can be transformed to shape healthier lives, and offers examples of how through a deeper understanding of the fundamental issues threatening our communities, our planet, and all living species we can radically change the future. Together, the exceptional perspectives explored in these essays identify viable alternatives and illuminate new paths for architecture and design.