Urban Evolutions Blog

Construction and manufacturing sectors are associated with elevated risks of unfair labor practices and health hazards that often disproportionately affect workers and nearby communities. Addressing social health and equity in the built environment requires building products and supply chains that support fair labor conditions, economic opportunity, and long-term community well-being—not just environmental performance.

Through urban wood recovery, building deconstruction, takeback programs, and design-for-disassembly principles, we keep high-quality wood materials in circulation and out of landfills for as long as possible.

The materials we bring into buildings directly shape the health of the people who occupy them. From chemical exposure to air quality and sensory experience, material choices influence how spaces feel and how they perform over time. Designing for human health requires careful attention to what materials are made of, how they are finished and how they interact with indoor environments.

Checking The Boxes The use of the live sawn milling technique provides a less edited, whole grain look that is a natural choice for maximizing biophilic design principles into your office project. Biophilic Office Design and Wood’s Critical Role According to the International Living Future Institute, biophilic design within architecture seeks to connect building occupants more closely with nature in three broad areas: Providing a direct experience and well-recognized connection to nature Incorporating natural patterns and attributes such as shapes, images, sounds and smells that our senses recognize and respond to. Connecting people, place and culture; in other words, biophilia “integrates the history, geography, and ecology of an area”.

A new and essential direction in environmentally responsible design

I overheard Jeff Janson, my husband and co-owner of Urban Evolutions, talk about salvaging wood from barns. While he is driving up to a property, he is looking with anticipation at the trees along the road. He knows that 9 times out of 10, the species surrounding that bit of land — perhaps white oak, elm, or pine in our region — is what the farmer would have used to build the barn.