Green Buildings and Green Furniture

The Riverhouse is a new 31 story, 264-unit condominium complex at One Rockefeller Park that beckons new owners with gorgeous views of New York City’s Rockefeller Park and the Hudson River. It has acquired LEED Gold status. Not long ago, Knú was offered the opportunity to furnish a model home office in the new Riverhouse tower. We leaped at the chance to be involved and work in cooperation with Vivavi Sustainable Furniture, a retailer of fine eco-friendly furnishings in Brooklyn.

After all, LEED certified buildings should be filled with sustainably manufactured, eco-friendly furniture.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, establishes solid benchmarks for green buildings in terms of water and energy use, materials selection and indoor air quality. We are proud to play a part in this project and recognize that the development and construction of new LEED certified buildings - and the renovation of existing buildings to meet LEED requirements - will have dramatic effects with the potential to significantly reduce the impacts of climate change.

Riverhouse’s large rooftop photovoltaic array, geothermal heating and cooling, responsibly harvested wood products, water saving fixtures, micro wind turbines and storm water runoff captured for use on the green roof gardens are just a few of the features that have qualified it for one of the highest LEED ratings in New York. There are only 3 other existing Gold-rated buildings in the city.

Here in Michigan, there are currently 37 LEED certified buildings and the majority of those are right in our backyard in West Michigan. Nine of these buildings have achieved Gold status and seven are LEED Silver status. The new Grand Rapids Art Museum, shown here, is the world's first LEED Gold-certified museum.

But West Michigan not only leads the way in LEED construction, but also in sustainably manufactured office and home furnishings.

Everyone knows that Grand Rapids is the “furniture city.” Over a century of furniture manufacturing in Grand Rapids and its suburbs has created an abundant wealth of craftsmanship and design skill. But a new vision of the furniture industry is evolving here right now, and many local furniture manufacturers are taking advantage of the available skills to create eco-friendly products that are built to last without using toxic chemicals, without creating indoor air pollution and without destroying forests.

Knú and the growing number of forward thinking furniture manufacturers in West Michigan are leading the way toward a brighter, more sustainable future for the home and office furnishings industry. It only takes a quick Google search for “sustainable furniture” to see the surprising number of companies that are stepping forward to create better living and working environments.

Can your choice of furniture save the planet? Maybe not, but you can significantly reduce your exposure to dangerous chemicals, reduce your impact on forests, and surround yourself with new styles and textures by choosing green furnishings that are built to last. And certainly as we build more LEED-certified buildings, we must wisely choose the products that go into them.

The future is clear, green buildings and green furniture will grow together.