The new Precautionary List site also includes a searchable list of substances with an overview and description of each and an outline of the kind of hazards each represents: i.e., a carcinogen, a threat to reproductive health, or an endocrine disruptor. But the part of the redesigned site that designers and architects are likely to find most useful is examples of typical applications, including offices, residences, and hospital rooms. The pages devoted to these hypothetical case studies have call outs that help users understand where in the built environment the chemicals of concern are commonly found and identify more benign alternatives.

The ultimate goal of the endeavor is to raise awareness and create demand for better and healthier products. “The decisions we make have implications,” said Paula McEvoy, a co-director of Perkins+Will’s firmwide sustainable design initiative. “Let’s push the industry in the right direction.”

Also at Greenbuild, Perkins+Will announced that the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has formally adopted RELi, the resilience consensus standard that the firm helped develop with the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability. RELi is intended as tool for designing buildings, neighborhoods, and communities that better withstand shocks and stressors, like hurricanes, super storms, drought, and earthquakes. RELi’s adoption by the USGBC means that the standard will soon become a rating system under the USGBC’s purview, similar to, but independent from LEED.