Press Release

New "SEED"® standard measures social, economic and environmental impact of design projects.

Result of multi-year effort following Harvard roundtable of architects and designers presented at national conference.

Washington, DC, April 1st, 2010 . . . A multi-year effort to establish a new social impact standard for design projects has resulted in SEED: Social Economic Environmental Design®. The SEED® Evaluator was publicly launched at a national conference, Structures for Inclusion 10, on March 27 and 28, 2010 at Howard University in Washington, D.C., with an attendance of 230. The SEED® Evaluator provides a new design standard defined by the "triple bottom line" of impacts: social, economic and environmental through an on-line tool to guide, evaluate and certify the social, economic and environmental impact of design projects.

"SEED is a lot more than a stamp of approval," said Lisa Abendroth, who teaches design and is a leader of the SEED project. "It's a tool for developing design projects, evaluating them as they progress, and assessing them when completed. So it will be of critical value to designers and architects who want to ensure they are developing socially responsible projects."

SEED grew out of a 2005 Harvard roundtable of architects, designers, community leaders and activists sponsored by the Loeb Fellowship. Since this roundtable, meetings in New Orleans, Baltimore, Dallas and Austin have increased participation in the "SEED Network" and crystallized the group's mission.

The SEED Network mission is: "To advance the right of every person to live in a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community." The SEED planning, evaluation and certification process is intended to help designers embody this principle in their projects. "SEED gives people a clear process to follow in pursuing socially responsible design," said Abendroth. "It will make their lives a lot easier, we believe, and at the end of the process, their projects will be certified by a well-respected, independent organization. This will be helpful not only in justifying design projects to the communities, but especially for projects dependent on getting outside funding."

The SEED® Evaluator is a user-friendly, web-based tool that allows communities to define goals for design projects, and then measure success in achieving these goals through a third-party certification process. This process guides design professionals in working with locals to achieve buy-in and cooperation for projects, increasing their sense of inclusion and empowerment.

SEED follows the earlier establishment of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, specifically measuring environmental impacts. "Of course, many design projects are measured by social impacts beyond environmental footprint, and we feel we have made it a lot easier for designers to evaluate these other impacts as they develop and complete their projects," said Abendroth.

WEBSITES:
SEED: www.seednetwork.org
SEED Evaluator Instructions: www.seednetwork.org/evaluator/instructions.php
SFI Conference: www.designcorps.org

Contact:
Bryan Bell
Email: Bryan@designcorps.org
Phone: 919-637-2804

Kimberly Dowdell
Email: kimberly.dowdell@gmail.com
Phone: 607-339-1167