“Architects have a greater ability to improve public health than medical professionals”

— Dr. Claudia Miller, Assistant Dean at the University of Texas School of Medicine  

We take that charge seriously.   It’s now well-documented that Americans spend, on average, about 90% of their time indoors, where exposure levels to the chemicals that comprise our built environments are exponentially higher.  What if consumers—architects and allied designers, builders and owners—could easily understand how much of an impact the toxins in their daily environments had on their own health, and on the health of the planet? What if they were able to make smarter decisions about the materials and products they chose to live with?  In the absence of effective governmental regulation of the 87,000-plus chemicals that comprise our building materials, it falls to architects and allied designers, builders and owners to manage exposure to the chemicals comprising their own environments.  What if these players had easy access to the medical and environmental implications of the various options before finalizing their selections?  At HAABITT, we enable consumers to make sound choices about the materials and products that surround them. 

We're passionate about making healthier building materials a reality for every US household.  Because we are designers by nature, training and experience, some of our healthier building materials consulting services often unfold organically within the scope of conventional architecture projects.  For other clients already engaged with architecture firms, we define our role as ‘designer’ differently, actively focusing not on authoring built spaces but instead on curating the relationships and knowledge pathways that help clients, architects, and builders make better decisions about the materials and products they choose, and the manufacturing processes that these choices perpetuate.

Educating consumers is the first step in moving families toward more mindful consumption, companies toward sustainable manufacturing processes, and the government toward more responsible legislation. 

It's common for people to develop concerns about the impacts of chemicals and toxins in their living environments in reactionary mode: a cancer diagnosis, unexplained allergies or autoimmune issues often motivate consumers to think about the role our surroundings might play on our wellness (or lack thereof).  The more we read, research and talk about environmental toxins and their effects on our health—and especially the wellbeing of our kids--the more we have to fear.  Our approach is a proactive one aimed at developing knowledge and actionable steps that apply to a wide range of health complaints, lifestyles, budgets and time constraints. We begin by establishing a clear set of project objectives and use those to navigate us through the research and then assess and compare options clearly.  We make each project a unique priority, and we don’t stop designing, discussing, researching, and optimizing until we’re all satisfied.  

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