What does it take to make a sustainable product exiting and enticing? Put it to use in a futuristic housing exhibit designed by Karin Rashid, of course! In order to highlight various eco-friendly products, DuPont is showing "Smart-ologic Corian® Living" at the Milan Design Week 2010 this April. The interior design exhibit features a concept home as imagined by the inimitable Rashid, known for pretty much everything he’s ever done, including Trex lighting, Extraordinary Family furniture, and Sphere Bed.

Smart-ologic Corian® living. Design by Karim Rashid for DuPont Corian®.

The futuristic living space incorporates DuPontâ„¢ Corian®, a surface material known for its “superior design versatility and renowned sensorial qualities,” as well as DuPontâ„¢ Tyvek® building membrane, which is the favorite house-wrap in cold climates (at least in Colorado). Rashid’s “Smart-ologic Corian® Living” project also integrates DuPontâ„¢ Energain® panels. The end result, according to Rashid, is “a modular holistic house concept, a metaphor for how materials, technologies, housing, furnishings and space can work together to evoke an increased sense of experience, positively affect our psyche and bring us a better contemporary life, a better living and also enable us to reduce the environmental footprint of our daily decisions and actions."

Most people are already familiar with Corian® and Tyvek®, including the widespread and interesting applications of these materials. The new DuPont kid on the block is Energain®, “a radical new concept in thermal mass materials.” The product stabilizes room temperatures, both cold and hot, by absorbing and releasing heat. Energain® panels and tape are designed to be used in “framed construction in timber, steel or aluminium.” The panels’ “innovative copolymer and paraffin compound” make these building materials safe to handle, as they do not contain any toxic substances. Energain® panels are also easy to install: they can be cut to any size. How exactly Rashid’s concept house uses the DuPont materials remains unclear. Only a trip to Milan and a close examination of the design plans will satisfy my curiosity. Since that is unlikely to occur, I will have to be content with the possible benefits of this unlikely partnership between the practical DuPont and the fanciful Rashid. By choosing such a well-known designer, DuPont will give the most attention to its energy-saving products. This marketing ploy is evidence of their “Smart-ologic.”

Images courtesy of DuPontâ„¢ Corian®