Contemporary Considerations
Asynchronous Session
Heirloom Sustainability Through Wool: The Intersection of Craft, Durability, and Eco-Friendly Practices in Modern Interiors
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ingrid Schmidt, Hannah Dewhirst
This research explores the concept of heirloom sustainability through wool, focusing on the potential of high-impact, durable textiles and furniture to transform spatial identity and contribute to sustainable building practices. As urban renting increases, consumers are seeking personalized spaces, with an emphasis on long-lasting, unique, and eco-friendly materials. Wool, a renewable resource produced globally on land not suitable for agriculture, offers multiple sustainability benefits. Its use in tufted rugs and other textiles aligns with growing consumer demand for products that embody both craftsmanship and environmental responsibility. These wool products not only meet the desire for personalized, high-quality items but also encourage sustainable consumer behavior by leveraging a material that is biodegradable, easy to recycle, and has high second-hand value. As educators and practitioners at the University of Kentucky’s School of Interiors, we aim to expose students to local wool production networks and sustainable manufacturing practices. Our design and research studio, SUBSTUDIO, engages with wool through custom textile production, having created large-scale tufted rugs for fashion brands such as Bottega Veneta and Burberry. In addition, we draw inspiration from historical practices like Swedish Rya rugs, which were simultaneously garment, object, and surface and carried enough social and cultural importance to be a traditional dowry. By emphasizing wool’s regenerative qualities and its role in creating unique, durable home goods, this research contributes to broader discussions on sustainable materials in the built environment, offering a model for integrating craftsmanship with environmental stewardship in contemporary design.
STEM Environments in Secondary Education Sustainability Programs
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ray Wu Rorrer
Since 2018, students in the Falls Church City Public School System’s (FCCPS) sustainability education program have been developing a deeper understanding of urban agriculture, sustainable design and engineering, and environmental science each subsequent year through multiple, intentional experiences. This interdisciplinary approach lends itself well to easier collaborations between TEE teachers and their core academic peers, especially in courses such as physics, environmental science, earth and space science, and ecology. These experiences combine their classroom instruction with project-based activities in the school’s aquatic education facility, the vivarium (indoor greenhouse) facility, the school gardens (pollinator, native plants, food production), and living labs (water retention area designed ecosystems). These environmental-focused ecosystems support integrated STEM learning by aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This paper emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary sustainability initiatives within organizations. Education on sustainability must be interdisciplinary, incorporate diverse perspectives, and occur across all learning contexts. New forms of technology and the interaction with it requires individuals who can focus on critical thinking, invention, and adaptability. The challenges of today and tomorrow will require students to have robust experiences to address these complex issues. For STEM, implementation of transdisciplinary teaching and learning using a blended approach across disciplines can help students apply knowledge and skills to create and innovate new solutions, and to solve problems across disciplines. As students identify and define a problem, they design and build new, novel, useful, and unique solutions to local phenomena that creates a more sustainable world.
