Eco-Friendly Designers Found Under One Roof

In a city with more opinions than traffic jams, it's tricky to find a neighbor with common values -- yet it's been discovered in one hip, environmentally friendly building at 5519 S. Centinela Avenue, where Sarah Barnard's self-named interior design studio shares a roof with landscape design + build firm, Environmental Concept.

"It started with a call from Tania Gybels, the president of Environmental Concept," Barnard said. "She was familiar with my work and my commitment to the environment and wanted my thoughts on the interior of a building they'd just acquired."

What began as a standard eco-friendly interior project, on an old pre-school building, became a new spaceto call home for Sarah Barnard Design, then a blossoming friendship and wonderful working relationship between interior and exterior specialists. Now her studio occupies twenty-fivepercent of the building while her neighbor uses the rest.

"A great team is really important -- it's convenient and time saving for consumers who seek out firms like ours, because they can find like minded interior and exterior companies under one roof," Barnard said. "It's really been a great move for the both of us."

The essential aim of sustainable design is to create places and spaces that reduce the use of non-renewable resources and minimize environmental impact. Rather than a fast, here-today-gone-tomorrow, left-coast trend -- green is here to stay. So when clients approach Sarah Barnard Design wanting eco-friendly interior design, the referral to Environmental Concept for a sustainable garden makes sense. Barnard, known by many as a design visionary, is also a well-versed, award-winning furniture designer who can create custom, eco-friendly furniture to enhance and compliment sustainable spaces.

Sarah Barnard Design specializes in innovative, residential and commercial projects reflecting the unique qualities of each client and the inherent soul of the site. Her work has been featured in local and national publications and has placed prominently in several design competitions.