mindful Materials adds Rockfon

mindful MATERIALS, founded in 2014 by HKS Architects, has evolved quickly into an industry-wide collaborative focused on a common platform for manufacturers to clearly communicate transparency and optimization information for their building products.

mindful MATERIALS has added Rockfon acoustic stone wool ceiling systems to its library. This centralized resource will help with your product selection, specification, proposals and other documentation.

Free and ready access

''mindful MATERIALS is a grassroots, industry-led, volunteer-driven program organized around a unique brand and identity,'' explains Jeff Frost, a member of mindful MATERIALS’ Steering Committee and a project manager at Brightworks Sustainability. 

He continues. ''It’s a consuming effort to make an informed decision about sustainability criteria including environmental and human health impacts. Until now, architects and designers have had to spend a lot of time to identify and contact all of the manufacturers for a particular product type, then visit every website to determine if they have the necessary sustainability information, and then to locate, collect and compare this information.''

Evolving selection criteria

Today’s evolving sustainability selection criteria includes products’ material ingredients and environmental impact. Green building certification programs, including the Living Building Challenge^SM, the WELL Building Standard™ and U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED^® v4, recognize and reward various levels of disclosure and optimization, and in turn, help inform product selection.

''Without going down the rabbit hole, mindful MATERIALS pulls together all of this information into one resource, and provides what we want and how we want it,'' says Frost. ''The information is reviewed, published and made available to all members. Again, membership is free to all. Everyone is welcome to get involved and contribute.''

Growing libraries with verified data

The mindful MATERIALS Library gives designers a single place to search for product information. Rockfon and other manufacturers enter product information directly into an online database, indicating which disclosure documents and certifications apply to each product. All products are reviewed by the mindful MATERIALS Review Working Group prior to being published in its Library. In addition to the online library, the mindful MATERIALS Transparency Label can be added to designers’ physical libraries.

Currently, there are 4,962 products listed with mindful MATERIALS serving 2,665 collaborative members from 14 countries. An additional 1,898 product requests are currently under review. With vetting by the mindful MATERIALS Review Working Group, as well as verified data directly from partnering auditors/certifiers, confidence in the data is strong.

Program content is updated on an ongoing basis. The backbone of the program and primary documentation tool is the mindful MATERIALS Library, which enables building professionals to efficiently research products and gain immediate access to relevant transparency documentation by following the links provided by Rockfon and other manufacturers. Access to the mindful MATERIALS Library is provided at no cost, register for a free account today: https://mindfulmaterials.origin.build