While quartz countertops are a popular design choice, growing evidence has highlighted the serious health risks faced by the workers who fabricate and install them. Engineered stone can contain high levels of crystalline silica, and the dust that emerges when the material is cut or polished can cause silicosis—a dangerous, irreversible lung disease.
Architectural materials selection must go beyond aesthetics and performance to consider the broader impacts of specifications across the entire lifecycle of a project.
Join DBA's Logan Leggett, AIA, NCARB, NCIDQ and Sara Tepfer, MSc, MPH, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, for "Healthy Materials Update: Quartz Countertop Alternatives," where they'll discuss healthier countertop alternatives and how design teams can make informed material choices that support both beautiful buildings and healthier outcomes for the people who build them.
Healthy Materials Update: Quartz Countertop Alternatives
AIA San Francisco
Committee on the Environment meeting
August 18, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Learn more about the California Department of Public Health's Engineered Stone Silicosis Dashboard.