The Gradual Greening of Masterspec

Master specification systems, such as The American Institute of Architects’ Masterspec™, are widely used throughout the building design professions. They provide generic specifications that can be customized for particular projects, along with additional guidance on each section. The generic specification language is enormously influential in the construction industry because it represents a “default” position for the designer—that language becomes part of the project documents unless the designer has other information to substitute and takes the time to provide it. As a result, the growing use of environmentally sound specification and guidance language in Masterspec should go a long way towards improving mainstream practices and reducing negative impacts of buildings as a whole.

Masterspec is produced for AIA by Arcom Master Systems of Salt Lake City, Utah and Alexandria, Virginia. The specification writers at Arcom began pursuing green recommendations explicitly following a 1996 meeting of the International Construction Information Society (ICIS). At that meeting in Sydney, Australia a representative of the company that produces Australia’s National Specifications raised the question about environmental issues in specifications, and the delegates agreed to address the issue internationally. ICIS has been preparing a report on environmental issues in master specification systems, which should be published later this year on the organization’s Web site:

www.icis.org.