Exhibitors at NeoCon were touting the environmentally friendly aspects of materials such as brick, rubber and soy.

Green special events and features included green "Environmental Design" seminars, a Green Walk showroom tour and the Greenlife resource hub and lounge where conference goers were able to relax on sustainable furniture and learn more about going green.

Exhibitors at NeoCon were touting the environmentally friendly aspects of materials such as brick, rubber and soy.

Bruce Mau, founder and creative director of Toronto's Bruce Mau Design Inc., kicked off the three-day event with a discussion about the important and nearly all-encompassing role design plays in the contemporary world. Designers must adopt a new sustainable way of thinking, he said, and cited numerous examples of how sustainable thinking has helped pioneer the extraordinary and unexpected.

In Singapore, sustainable thinking led engineers to design a new water system that processes sewage into 100 percent perfect H2O with no contaminants, he said. In the workplace, this kind of thinking may lead to the elimination of cubicles and individual thinking in favor of more sustainable, team approaches. As Mau explained, there are possibilities, and limitations, in nearly every application. It may be difficult to get people to drink former sewage water, but there's no telling where such forward-thinking technology can go.

Robert Verdi, co-host of the popular Discovery Channel show "Surprise by Design," also saw the office as a place where green innovation is taking hold. He pointed out that businesses are creating more eco-friendly environments. Verdi said that in both the home and office, green thinking has had an effect, from the use of vegetable dyes to solar heating. "It's one of the trends that's important for us to embrace," he said.

Verdi, in his keynote address, also mentioned that there has been a sort of melding between home and office environments. With more people working from home and flexible schedules gaining popularity in offices, the home and the workplace have taken on some of the other's characteristics. Home offices have taken some design cues from the workplace and traditional offices have become a bit more homey.

Seamlessness was also on the mind of architect Hani Rashid. Rashid spoke about how technology is reshaping the design world, but in his projects, he has used technology to create something that takes its place without imposing itself upon the environment. Though his buildings are distinctive, Rashid said architects should not merely seek to put their imprint on a place, but they should try to figure out what the social, political and geographic undercurrents of a place are and have their buildings respond and react to that.