Building in Europe, the Healthy Way

The latest episode of The Green Route with MAREDI Design is here! Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts by clicking here.

For episode 28, we had the opportunity to sit down with Leila Behjat, Director of Material Ecology at Parsons Healthy Materials Lab and Cofounder of Healthy Materials Lab EU. This episode feels like a perfect continuation of a previous episode from last season with Alison Mears, who is Leila’s Cofounder, among many other things. We’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Leila over the last year through various collaborations in the world of material health in the EU.

Her work takes her all across Europe, and soon, to Southeast Asia, where she collaborates closely and consults with stakeholders and decision-makers across cities and municipalities on projects of various scales. At the forefront is always the goal of supporting the change and improvement of practices to create healthier spaces for people and the planet.

With her team, Leila oversees research of materials, building systems and assessments of construction projects, striving to develop research that can be used to improve our approach to how we build today for a better future. Part of her work in maintaining and growing the highly curated Material Collection is her advocacy work as well as the close exchange and communication with local and international manufacturers.

In our conversation, we dive into the role of culture in how we build our spaces, the importance of regenerative systems and practices in creating a better built environment and the essential role of architects and designers in applying these principles to their work.

This is an important episode for anyone who lives or works in any type of building because what we surround ourselves with in our interior environment has a colossal impact on our health.

After tuning in, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a review, share your favorite takeaways, or tell us what sustainability topics you’d like us to dive into next.

See you down the Green Route 😊