I have a plant on my desk, and his name is "Oliver". Plants are like little metaphors; just like a seed produces a plant, our choices produce results. Since I joined Spacesmith in 2014 I've had the opportunity to further my education about sustainable design, as well as work on real LEED projects. This was always something I wanted to do as a student, and now that I'm getting the opportunity to be a part of it, I've come to notice it's not always the big idea that makes up a project.

It's the small design moves that influence your day to day productivity, that unify a grander intention. Integrating a little green can go a long way. As a designer, my choices are what make it sustainable.

Plants have the power to provide aesthetics as well as oxygen. This is the most basic understanding of pure beauty, in my opinion. Design encourages us to learn every day, so as I sit here enjoying the company of my little desk plant I'm inspired by the connection between person and plant.

Over the last few years, designers have been coming up with creative ways to bring plants into space. Green roofs, vertical gardens, and living walls are just a few examples of actions that designers have taken to address sustainability. Our relationship with plants is far from desolate. The surge in sustainable design over the years is striking, but if you break it all down it's just a simple little seed and its natural cycle influencing it all.

Now, more than ever, we're embracing our relationship with the living environment by constantly striving for a new perspective and relation to designing livable spaces that serve our client's needs, as well as our planet’s.

Sustainable innovation benefits all aspects of life. Whether it's putting a row of plants in your window, or specifying a post-consumer recycled content material, sustainable design immediately improves the experience of a space which in the long run makes a better project. It's the little things that influence the larger. "Oliver" is a reminder of my goals as a designer.

Just as a branch reaches for sunlight, Spacesmith reaches for a beautiful and better built environment.

Alexandra Seager, Designer