Sustainable Building: A Healthy Materials Framework

This foundational two-course program is designed to help you choose healthier, low-carbon building materials. Learn strategies from over 33 experts to reduce harmful chemicals, improve human and environmental health, and apply healthier choices to projects.

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Trusted by Architects, Designers, Contractors & Engineers including…

With over a decade of leadership in material health education, Healthy Materials Lab offers expert guidance and practical tools you can apply right away - empowering you to make healthier material choices and advance real change.

Lessons from over 33 Experts.

Leading experts across design, construction, science, medicine, and public policy explore how healthier design strategies can meet the urgent needs of our built environment.

Gain a clear understanding of building materials and their impacts on both human health and the environment.
Explore how material toxicity and environmental exposures impact human health. Use this knowledge to set health-centered design goals from concept through project completion.
Learn to identify and evaluate healthier building products by assessing their impacts across the material life cycle. Compare options, weight constraints, and make informed, health-focused specifications.
Develop strategies to reduce the health impacts of material choices by prioritizing human well-being. Learn to use tools and resources to connect material selection to broader environmental and design issues (or contexts).

Recognized Credentials

Earn a Certificate of Completion plus 8 AIA and 8 IDCEC Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) continuing education credits.
Flexible + On-Demand

Start anytime within 120 days of enrollment and complete the course at your own pace - on your schedule, wherever you are.
Professional Network

Become part of a dynamic network of professionals putting healthy, low-carbon materials, and sustainable design into action.

Where Expertise Meets Action

Learn to navigate complexity, ask the right questions, and lead healthier, more responsible projects.

Build Healthier Spaces, Shape a Better Future

Gain practical tools to prioritize wellbeing, reduce harm, and lower carbon emissions, making material selection a means to positive impact.

"This program gives an in-depth assessment of the challenges regarding building materials. I now have a better understanding of who is affected and how, as well as our responsibilities as designers to take action. I will spread this knowledge to our clients and set clear goals for selecting healthier materials with the whole team."

- Katherine, NBBJ

Resources to Design a Healthier Future

We are Healthy Materials Lab, a design research lab at Parsons School of Design, dedicated to accelerating the design and construction of healthy homes, communities, and ecologies.