Living in a Material World: The Architects’ Role in Responsible Materials Selection

AIAU25-CADE02

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1 LU|HSW

Live course date: 11/12/2025 | 02:00 PM

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Description

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | 2-3pm EST

How can architects and designers take action in selecting holistically responsible materials? With competing priorities from clients and project teams to a whole world of product and project-level certifications, responsible material selection is hard to navigate – and one that has to be done on a daily basis. The AIA Materials Pledge provides a framework for architects and designers to begin to chart progress in data transparency and optimization across the five impact categories: Human health, Social health and equity, Ecosystem health, Climate health, and Circular economy.

Join AIA Materials Pledge leadership for this webinar where speakers will focus on beginner steps for designers to take in thinking about holistic material health. They will then speak about how the AIA Materials Pledge reporting framework can support firms at any stage of their materials journey. Finally, they will provide an overview of this year’s second annual Materials Pledge By the Numbers (RY24) report, looking at reported materials data from over 100 signatory firms.

Learning Objectives

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Identify the role of architects in selecting materials that address one or more of the five impact categories: Human health, Social health and equity, Ecosystem health, Climate health, and Circular economy.

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Understand the role of the A&D Materials Pledge in providing a community and reporting framework for signatories to track progress in data transparency and optimization.

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Describe high-level data takeaways from this year’s second Materials Pledge By the Numbers report.

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Identify key strategies for better data collection and tracking as well as improving performance to meet the five goals of the Materials Pledge program.

Materials

Instructors

Simona Fischer

AIA, CPHC

MSR Design's director of sustainable practice, Simona is a sustainability expert who specializes in energy, materials, high-performance assemblies, and implementing the AIA Framework for Design Excellence into the workflow of architectural practice. She has completed LEED, B3, and Living Building Challenge Petal certifications and has consulted on facilities recommendations for multi-building owners to achieve sustainable built environment transformations. Simona currently serves on the Minnesota Buy Clean Taskforce and national AIA Materials Pledge working group, and she is cochair of the Carbon Leadership Forum Minnesota Circularity and Specification subgroups. She received a national AIA Young Architects Award in 2023.

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Jay Hindmarsh

AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, CSI CDT & CCS

Jay is a skillful technical architect and specifier with over 20 years of sustainable project experience. He specializes in directing the delivery of nationally award-winning educational and public building designs in the Pacific Northwest through thoughtful documentation, material and system specifications, and successful construction administration.

Jay co-leads the Mahlum Best Practices and Quality Assurance teams to ensure that project design and technical rigor are realized for all delivery methods and construction budgets. Passionate about the environmental impact of our profession, Jay is an active member of the Mahlum Sustainability Steering Committee and spearheads the internal Healthy Materials Community at the office which mentors other staff and champions the selection of better materials.

Jay is an active member of the Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC) and currently serves on the Technical Committee Subgroup for Harmonization.

He earned his Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Building Sciences from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is a registered architect in Washington State.

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Maria Papiez

AIA, NCARB

Maria Papiez, AIA is the Director of Sustainable Design for EwingCole. As an architect and environmental biologist, she facilitates firm-wide efforts, including the AIA 2030 Commitment and Materials Pledge, participates in goal-setting and client interaction on project teams, and developed and leads the Thrive@EC sustainability group.

Maria’s professional experience has been in healthcare, education, and workplace. She is an active participant in the AIA Large Firm Roundtable (LFRT) and the Sustainable Design Leaders (SDL) network, and she has been an adjunct Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture at NC State University, teaching design studios. She received her Master of Architecture from NC State University, her Master of Science in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Nevada, Reno, and her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Portland.

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