designtex, inc.
Susan Lyons was a vice-president at DesignTex, Inc., a firm that develops high-end custom fabric collections. She wanted to create an environmentally-responsible fabric that would provide a model for sustainable design.
Ms. Lyons consulted with William McDonough, Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia and a noted designer of environmentally sustainable buildings. McDonough argued that designers and inventors need to think about cost, performance, and aesthetics, but adds two additional constraints: Will the design process and eventual product be ecologically intelligent? And will they meet the criteria of social justice? McDonough's stated ideal is that "No environmental risk is acceptable." Engineers tend to talk about "acceptable" and "unacceptable" risk so McDonough's statement challenges a traditional paradigm and seems outrageous as a criterion for a practical design.
Yet in this case Susan Lyons took up his challenge to see whether or not DesignTex, Inc. could design a fabric that would meet McDonough's ideal. The case follows the development of a new furniture fabric and asks students to decide whether McDonough's princples go too far––whether it is really necessary or feasible to redesign the chemical protocols by which all fabric are manufactured in order to produce a completely compostable product that emerges from an absolutely clean manufacturing proess.
Resolution of DesignTex, Inc. Case A, followed by a discussion of the issue of who should be willing to pay to implement McDonough's protocol.