# INTRODUCTION n order to educate the next generation that sustainability is not a method, but as a standard practice; it is critical that we consider teaching practices that incorporate in depth understanding of sustainable practice. The sustainable envelope proposes the use of a more than typical building materials and decision in designing within an unarticulated shell -and as design process of conceiving a sustainable interior design. The investigation of sustainability in Interior Design necessitates the exploration of sustainability beyond the specification of materials to incorporate an appreciation for the limitations of the environment ( Schneiderman, 2008). Having agreed with the quote, the paper investigates the latest batch of students in intention to know how they apply the sustainable knowledge into their studio project systematically. The research had been started earlier with the involvement of 33 Year 3 Interior Design students enrolling in 2009; a so-called Batch 1 for segregation in the study. There are also 16 third (final) [Batch 2] year students been selected in this research and for Phase 1; their Interior Design Studio projects conducting in Semester 1 Session 2010/2011 beginning in July 2010 and ends in November 2010 become part of the survey. There is Phase 2 study which is the continuation of Phase 1 being done in Semester 2 for more detail survey research. The students are in Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia and all are the Malaysian citizens of Malay and Chinese descendent with one Saudi Arabian student. Initial also has been done on the previous batch focusing on 33 students; all local Malaysian with two Iranian students, two People Republic of China students and three Indonesian students. This group seems the focus of this research. # II. THE PROCESS AND INITIAL STUDIES -US LEED CERTIFIED BUILDINGS CASE STUDIES Most of the references in this research have been using LEED factors as a main guide in ensuring the sustainable inputs being achieve into the students studio projects. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is an internationally recognized green I Global Journal of Human Social Science Volume XI Issue IX Version I verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO 2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Developed by the (USGBC), LEED is intended to provide building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions. Since its inception in 1998, the U.S. Green Building Council has grown to encompass more than 7,000 projects in the United States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet (99 km²) of development area. The hallmark of LEED is that it is an open and transparent process where the technical criteria proposed by USGBC members are publicly reviewed for approval by the almost 20,000 member organizations that currently constitute the USGBC. Here is some of the selected LEED certified buildings act as guide in having the American buildings example in green building index aspect in relation to the green design factors of the students studio projects. The examples are the Santa Monica Civic Center's parking garage in California; the proposed Calatrava 's designed sky-high Spiral Tower in Chicago, Illinois; Bank of America Tower in New York City; Townhomes in Sebastopol, Northern California and David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (see Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3). 1st LEED Parking Garage ? The materials used in construction were recycled and finished with low-VOC paints and finishes. # LEED certified Spiraling Calatrava Chicago Tower (USA) ? The tower also features a greywater system, which captures rainwater and reuses. Platinum LEED Certification ? The design of the building makes it environmentally friendly, using technologies such as floor to ceiling insulating glass to contain heat and maximize natural light, and an automatic daylight dimming system. # Category/ Use type: Tower ? The building is made largely of recycled and recyclable materials. Bank of America Tower (New York, USA) -Platinum LEED Certification i) The design of the building makes it environmentally friendly, using technologies such as floor to ceiling insulating glass to contain heat and maximize natural light, and an automatic daylight dimming system. ii) The tower also features a greywater system, which captures rainwater and reuses. iii) The building is made largely of recycled and recyclable materials. ii) Bamboo floors make beautiful use of rapidly renewable materials iii) The impressive gray water recycling system is the first approved for large scale use in Sonoma County using recycled water from bathing, washing and laundry to providing 100% of the water needed for landscape irrigation. # David L. Lawrence Convention Center Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA -Gold LEED Certification i) Natural light is in abundance at the DLCC where over 75% of the entire building is naturally lit. ii)The building is designed with a natural ventilation system which allows natural fresh air to cool the building. iii) An on-site water reclamation plant recycles waste water from sinks, drinking fountains and faucets for use in commodes. # U.S. Green Building Council certain sustainable product i.e. paint and bamboo floor. All the paint companies shown here having either zero Or low V.O.C. and it is a requirement to have these features (see Table 1 for information and Figure 4 and Figure 5). Students have shown great interests in specify these sustainable materials in their building quantities report and also shown the product details in their material sample board. Students also are expected to do their own research on sustainable products information as part of their tasks in the studio projects. International products i.e. Nippon paint is one of the companies which is in the fore-front in the green product application in interior design sectors by producing consumer and environmental friendly product. By the end of Semester 2, 14 students managed to submit their projects for final presentation. The six graphs below were derived from the study from the report done by the students together with their submitted drawings. The report contains explanation of the project including the concept and also showing the building specifications including the costing and the materials sample. The series of graphs below were derived from the formulation of identifying sustainable inputs from the literature research and also from the easy access of the internet. Among the focus of study at this juncture is touching on the sustainable floor input, wall material, recycle materials, sustainable lighting issues and also to the rain water harvesting idea. Also, the type of ventilation use for the roof types are including for the graph analysis. These are the basic green design ideas which always been mentioned in the studio briefing individually or in a group to be taken care-off. The afford of having this series of graphs help to analyze on the degree of input from the students in inserting the sustainable issues into their tasks after work it out for about a year. After this, they will be out in the market taking the challenges on having green interior design issues in real practice. For ranking purposes, again number 4 is for the most popular choice for rating purposes(with some graph using and 5 as their highest ranking) where 1 is the least popular input for the survey . Even their progress grade has been inform through facebook and hence reducing real paper works usage and hence more sustainable way approach in studio handling. Students can also post in the facebook on their progress in designs and will get instant comments from the lecturers before meet at the studio. Some of the important findings in the graphs have been posted in the network in order for the students to monitor on their progress achievement especially on the sustainable inputs level. It seems like there are quite a positive input in using this social network in improving the interactions between the students and lecturers. The idea in developing more input on the sustainability seems more achieved by using the facebook medium with students seem making note on the usage of green design ideas into their project. There is an opportunity to have the progress chart on sustainability inputs of the projects being shown in facebook. The display of the graph helps the students in alerting them on their achievement in having a sustainable studio project. The lecturer even somehow use facebook to It is interesting to have the social utility network in one of the ways running the studio. For this research, one group has been initiated from the facebook network to communicate with each other at any time. Students can be informed at any time of the day on the information and data that they need to know. download students progress grade in ensuring they are aware on the level they are getting so far on their works. Overall, this social utility network giving quite a big impact in the daily progress of getting students awareness especially on the sustainable input study. It seems like the communication between the students and the lecturers are not limited in the studio only but also can be done at any time of the day and at any place!. In the process of delivering inputs on sustainability interior design into the studio works, several critiques session has been done to ensure the ideas been delivered in good order. Getting the final year interior design students by exposing themselves into the green design effects at the academic level hopefully can give positive effects to the environment when they go out in real practice very soon. There is an opportunity for the students to have a formal presentation to the School Dean and being briefed on their achievement especially on the sustainable interior input. A group of other lecturers from different part of the school's program i.e. Building Technology, Planning, Architecture and Quantity Surveyor have been giving Bamboo and natural timber seems being the most popular choice for flooring. However, the students seems still making quite a positive awareness on all other flooring materials to be considered to be used Fig. 12. Summary on sustainable input using for wall (Sem.2 Batch 2). The graph indicated 4 types of wall materials are among higher quoted for the task which are using V.O.C. paint, natural timber and stone; and having green wall (see Figure 12). Most of students quoted the green wall materials for their building specification report and the materials being shown in their material sample board. Few students dedicated a specific chapter located within their report explaining the usage of the said sustainable wall materials. The pattern show good students practice in applying sustainable wall materials within their projects thus giving better chances on having green design when they out practice. All the 3 inputs are for having natural air running through the buildings. Having natural air running across the building is good green design practice in term of health factor for the occupant. Certain students having the vast glazed opening within their glass wall for good internal-external air flow. The graph shows some consideration in implementing air ventilation as one of the green design factor to be implemented into interior design issues (see Figure 14). within their project (see Figure 11). Having identified 10 types of sustainable floor materials and getting most of the students to be able to have these materials within their projects indicating quite a success in making green design awareness as far as having the green floor is concern. Lighting is one of the important sustainable criteria in green design feature. The lighting graph shows fair range of sustainable lighting inputs to be handled by the students. Having sun shading i.e. building external window sun shading or simply letting natural sun light deep into the interior space can greatly reduce the usage of artificial lighting (see Figure 13). Students are ensuring in knowing the morning and evening sun principles while arranging window position in getting a maximum morning sun light into their café area for example The issue on having rain water harvesting as part of individual design always mentioned but hardly been considered seriously by the students. This is reflected in Figure 15 above as quite a small number of students really keen to explore this idea. Most of the LEED gold or platinum projects in the USA seems having this kind of green feature located at the lobby of the building to be enjoyed by the users. Thus having rain water harvesting for the internal building use become a popular feature in the USA. With is considered the least, having recycle glass chandelier to light-up the internal space is a superb thing to do. The above graph in Figure 16 shows more students having recycled textiles being put in studio practice as well as recycle sisal carpet. These recycle materials drawn from the literature study are more frequently been find and interestingly found in some student's material sample board. Consideration of environmental issues in construction projects has economic, ecological and social implications. It must be put in an overall context and undertaken in an objective and rational way (Gauzin-Muller,2002). Having sustainable design knowledge for students to apply it into their studio works is as important when they are in real practice. There is more demand out there now for healthy earth-friendly products and manufacturers; large and small; are meeting the need with stellar alternatives (Sharkey, 2008). As a summary, the graph (see Figure 17) indicated consistence input has been achieved for this exercise in ensuring sustainable design issues being rightly exposed at academic level first for the students to face the practice with real sustainable environmental design element practice. Through the sample taken during the survey, respondents seems giving fair feedback in ensuring the importance's of having positive environmentally friendly design. Better score seems being shown in the first three rows of the graph indicated the frequency of green impact inputs has been considered by most of students. This sign giving good indication in having environmentally sustainable design at academic level can generate better understanding in implementing the green factors being tackled at real design practice level. More studies about environmentally, economically and socially sustainable interior design will be necessary to contribute to the further refinement of an interdisciplinary body of knowledge in sustainable design. It is important to know the state of environmentally sustainable interior design practice (Kang, 2009 # CONCLUSION The green approach is simply 'responsible design'. Having a responsibility to sustain life and land with every design decision made are the great things to do. As we see bigger role playing by the Interior Designer in contributing the process of designing the built environment; 'green' is an umbrella term for a myriad of elements considered as part of the process. With the option we have of having no planet B, future generation of Interior Designer must well equip and well aware how important to have sustainable green design. Thus certain initial conclusion can be derived from the study where most of graphs indicated that by stressing the importance of the green design, students can be guided and produced satisfied results. There are still much rooms can be filled to improve the implementation process of the sustainable issue within the academic field. As a prominent public university, Universiti Sains Malaysia already being labeled as the key player in having these sustainable role really being applied and the affords are well known and well receive among the region top universities; this Interior Design Sustainable Studio exercise can be made as standard practice. Whether lifecycle analysis, reducing landfill, buying local, downsizing, salvage, repurposing, heirloom design, anti-allergy, reducing VOCS or day lighting for productivity. These are to name a mere few. Sustainable interior design pulls away from changing trends and synthetic culture, returning to a more traditional, local and natural way of living. Furthermore, with the Federal Government policy in encouraging better living environment as shown in the Federal Government staff double storey terrace housing in new city like Putrajaya, Malaysia; looking into the comfort of having sustainable homes with sustainable interior feature can become the Malaysian trend lately (Talib, 2011). To combine these elements and accomplish a design solution that offers a practical, functional, stylish and ethical interior, alongside the occupant's requirements can be quite a feat. In that challenge lies a new perspective. The holistic approach is to acknowledge that as humans we are only visiting the earth, we are not the owners. Together these offer a more intelligent method, one that respects our future. The research indicated that the up and down of the graphs lines giving better clues that the challenge in training students with green and sustainable design attitude received quite a good outcome. For years we have been engaged in a consumer driven culture, buying without thought. Media has helped us begin to grasp the seriousness of our man made actions, making way for sustainable building methods and raised public awareness in Malaysia, Europe or in the USA. However, green principles usually stop on pre interior fit. What's inside the building is just acknowledge the value of sustainable interiors as an integral part of design and build and not an afterthought. V. 1![Fig.1. Summary on LEED certified first parking garage in Santa Monica, California.](image-2.png "Fig. 1 .") 2![Fig.2. Considering LEED certification on the proposed Calatrava's skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois.](image-3.png "Fig. 2 .") 3![Fig.3. Summary on 3 LEED certified buildings in NYC, California and in Pittsburg.](image-4.png "Fig. 3 .") ![live/work town homes in Sonoma County, California lends sustainable style to the county's largest gray water bioremediation system.](image-5.png "") 4![Fig.4. Considering Photographs showing Benjamin Moore Nature Paints (USA), one of the American sustainable paint products.](image-6.png "Fig. 4 .") 5![Fig.5. Photographs showing Nippon Paints (Malaysia) products on current market. Knowledge on local and even global companies involving in producing green products can easily been gained in the internet. Even bamboo floor is now quite a big trend hitting the Malaysian market in recent times. There are quite a number of Malaysian](image-7.png "Fig. 5 .") 6![Fig. 6. Creating a facebook group with member of Year 3 Interior Design (Batch 2) students and teaching staff.](image-8.png "Fig. 6") ![Fig. 7. Students download theirs drawings or model photographs and also give comments on tasks progress.](image-9.png "") ![Social Network as Teaching Tool on Sustainable.](image-10.png "") ![Fig. 8. Progress graph has been downloading in the network in getting the students to know on their progress in injecting green ideas into their work.](image-11.png "") 9![Fig. 9. Summary pictures on activities during the running of the Year 3 Interior Design Studio for both batches.](image-12.png "Fig. 9 .") 10![Fig. 10. Samples of poster format drawings shown for the final presentation. Having a well presented drawings are very important in Interior Design practice. The students are trained to have the best presented drawings with the highlight of the sustainable design factors input into the task. The shown poster is done with the intention of having the green design ideas nicely blend into the project scope. III. SUSTAIANABLE ANALYSIS ON STUDIO WORKS FOR BATCH 2 SEMESTER 2.](image-13.png "Fig. 10 .") 11![Fig. 11. Summary on sustainable input for flooring (Sem.2 Batch 2).](image-14.png "Fig. 11 .") 13![Fig. 13. Summary on sustainable input for (Sem.2 Batch 2).Bigger building foot print are encourage to have a courtyard in letting more natural light coming in. Those having good size of internal space are advised to add a skylight in order to get better sun. Overall this category also indicated quite comfortable feeling in injecting the green lighting input into the student studio works.](image-15.png "Fig. 13 .") 14![Fig. 14. Summary on sustainable input using (for air ventilation) (Sem.2 Batch 2).](image-16.png "Fig. 14 .") ![Human Social Science Volume XI Issue IX Version I](image-17.png "") 15![Fig. 15. Summary on sustainable input (for rain water harvesting) (Sem.2 Batch 2).](image-18.png "Fig. 15 .") 16![Fig. 16. Summary on sustainable input (for recycle material) (Sem.2 Batch 2).With is considered the least, having recycle glass chandelier to light-up the internal space is a superb thing to do. The above graph in Figure16shows more students having recycled textiles being put in studio practice as well as recycle sisal carpet. These recycle materials drawn from the literature study are more frequently been find and interestingly found in some student's material sample board.Consideration of environmental issues in construction projects has economic, ecological and social implications. It must be put in an overall context and undertaken in an objective and rational way (Gauzin-Muller,2002).](image-19.png "Fig. 16 .") 17![Fig. 17. Summary on sustainable input for 14 students/ Batch 2/Semester 2.Having sustainable design knowledge for students to apply it into their studio works is as important when they are in real practice. There is more demand out there now for healthy earth-friendly products and manufacturers; large and small; are meeting the need with stellar alternatives(Sharkey, 2008). As a summary, the graph (see Figure17) indicated consistence input has been achieved for this exercise in ensuring sustainable design issues being rightly exposed at academic level first for the students to face the practice with real sustainable environmental design element practice.Through the sample taken during the survey, respondents seems giving fair feedback in ensuring the importance's of having positive environmentally friendly design. Better score seems being shown in the first three rows of the graph indicated the frequency of green impact inputs has been considered by most of students. This sign giving good indication in having environmentally sustainable design at academic level can generate better understanding in implementing the green factors being tackled at real design practice level. More studies about environmentally, economically and socially sustainable interior design will be necessary to contribute to the further refinement of an interdisciplinary body of knowledge in sustainable design. It is important to know the state of environmentally sustainable interior design practice(Kang, 2009).](image-20.png "Fig. 17 .") 1QuickWALL MATERIALSSUSTAINABLEResearchCONTEMPORARY MATERIALSonAND ELEMENTS FORSustainableINTERIOR SPACE:Materials.1MaterialsPaintCompanyNipponPaints(Malaysia)/World-wide. HQ-JapanProductsNippon Odour-less Wall Sealer,Nippon Odour-less Premium All-In-1,Information1. Formulation contains lowVolatile Organic Compound(VOC) level.2. Nippon Paint is the worldleader in anti-corrosion andchemical resistant technology.3.The currently manufactureover 10,000 different paintformulations and the paintsmanufactured can be categoriesunder decorative / architecturalcoatings, automotive finish,industrialusecoatings,protective coating and fishingvessel paints.4. Formulated to be extremelystain repellent and can be easilyremoved.5. Formulated styrene acrylicwater-based wall sealer withexceptionally low odor forinterior use.2MaterialsPaintCompanyBenjaminMooreNaturePaints(USA),ProductsNaturalZero-VOCPaint,Arborcoat Waterborne ExteriorStainInformation1.LowVolatileOrganicCompound (VOC)2. Virtually odorless withoutsacrificing style or performance.3.TheGreenPromisedesignation is Benjamin Moore'sassurancethatitsenvironmentally friendly coatingsmeet and often exceed thestrictest industry standards.3MaterialsPaintCompanyGreen SealProductsUSAInformation1. No VOCs2. www.greenseal.org4MaterialsPaintCompanyGreen GuardProductsUSAInformation1. No VOCs2. www.greenguard.org5MaterialsPaintCompanySCSProductsUSAInformation1. No VOCs2. www.sccertified.comA. Quick Research on Sustainable Materials.For this part, quick research has been done in getting some information on the companies; local or abroad on 2 Rain Water Harvesting-Sustainable Input IV.Analysis50AGUST?CHENG ?JOYEE ?LEE YINGMOHA?NUR ?WAN ?Interior Deco use Interior Deco use420FLOORS WALLS LIGHTING AIR ? RAIN ? RECYCLE ?FLOORSWALLSLIGHTINGAIR VENTILATIONRAIN WATER HARVESTINGRECYCLE FURNITURERecycle Materials -Sustainable InputRecycled Sisal-AnalysisCarpet5Recycled0AGUSTI?CHENG ?JOYEE ?LEE YINGMOHA?NUR ?WAN ?Textiles Recycled vintage glass iechandelier © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) December building certification system, providing third-party © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) DecemberSurvey on Injecting Green Design Ideas into Student's Interior Design Project © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) December Survey on Injecting Green Design Ideas into Student's Interior Design Project © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) 2011 10 December Survey on Injecting Green Design Ideas into Student's Interior Design Project © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) 2011 12 December Survey on Injecting Green Design Ideas into Student's Interior Design Project DecemberSurvey on Injecting Green Design Ideas into Student's Interior Design Project © 2011 Global Journals Inc. (US) December ## ACKNOWLEDMENT The authors would like to thank to Universiti Sains Malaysia on providing research assistants (Ms Syairah Zaimah Shafie and Ms Wan Nur Liyana Wan Mohd) through USM Short Term Research Grant No. 304/PPBGN/6310042 which enable the research to progress smoothly. All photographs were taken by the author. ## Information Urban solid bamboo flooring. * Towards a Low-Energy Building design for Tropical Malaysia AMAbdulrahman MHAbdulsamad ABahauddin MRIsmail 2009 Pulau Pinang Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia * What Does 'Sustainable Development' Mean? 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