Advancing Material Health with Henning Larsen and Ramboll Foundation

This is a global initiative to expand awareness of how building materials shape human health, and support climate resilience, ecosystems, and biodiversity. In collaboration  with Henning Larsen Architects, through a grant from The Ramboll Foundation, we are collecting, curating and sharing key research, tools, and educational resources to support designers, builders, and advocates advance their work toward healthier buildings.

Participants in the Global Material Health Awareness Survey (closed Dec 2025) are receiving a series of email updates filled with curated resources, insights, and research tailored to the needs surfaced in their responses. This page gathers some of those shared resources from our partners at Henning Larsen in one place so they are accessible to anyone seeking to learn, explore, and engage. Resources will be regularly updated. Explore them below, share them with your networks, and help make material health a universal standard.

• Changing our Footprint (2024) is a Henning Larsen publication that explores questions, concepts, projects, and materials offering optimistic, lower-carbon alternatives to the construction industry’s 40% emissions impact.

Toxic and carbon-intensive materials still dominate global construction, often with little transparency or accountability. Building on years of research, advocacy, and design leadership, HML and Henning Larsen are hoping to change this, using this campaign to broaden understanding of material health and accelerate a worldwide shift toward toxic-free, climate-safe building practices. Our goal is for these resources to guide the next generation of sustainable design.

Awareness drives action. Clear, accessible communication across email, websites, and social platforms plays a critical role in:

• translating complex science to increase understanding and support everyday decision-making
• spotlighting safer, regenerative material innovations
• inspiring designers and builders to adopt healthier practices
• connecting a global community around shared challenges and solutions

By amplifying knowledge in public, digital spaces, we can shift the industry narrative away from invisibility and inevitability, and toward transparency, accountability, and healthier norms.