Shaw Contract Group will promote global winners through marketing materials, media outreach and an advertisement campaign in leading A&D publications. In addition, winning firms receive $2,000 to donate to the school or organization of their choice.

Because carpet is only part of the project, the overall design space is considered. All design projects using Shaw Contract Group and Shaw Hospitality Group products, completed between February 2011 and February 2013, are eligible.

Piloted out of two distinct locales—Rwanda and the U.S.—MASS, in partnership with Shaw Contract Group, will improve health outcomes by fusing design and public health in a unique research and innovation incubator. This initiative aims to stymie some of the greatest health crises of our time and lend a new perspective on how our cities and communities can make us healthier.

In 2010, a single earthquake in Haiti killed over a quarter million people due to a combination of infrastructure failure and resulting outbreaks of disease. Two years later, Haiti’s infrastructure is being rebuilt largely as before. Port-au-Prince remains vulnerable to disaster and cholera, a disease of a failed built environment—specifically a failed sanitary system—has emerged in its wake. The United States, in the meantime, is not much different. In the last decade, we have seen bridges crumble, levees break, and medical facilities incubate diseases that kill over 100,000 people a year and harm many more. Uniting design and public health is needed more urgently than ever.

MASS believes looking to the “Global South” gives us reason for hope. These post-colonial states, in what is largely the southern hemisphere, are producing innovative solutions to the crises and challenges of our health and environment. In the Global South, we have examples of resilient societies that have for decades designed and tested solutions, survived great hardship, and built resilient environments that, if engaged, will teach the world how to design a better future.

The MASS Design Lab will pair these contexts with the lessons of the “Global North” through a powerful new kind of laboratory that will improve our environments and improve our public’s health.

Shaw Contract Group, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is partnering with MASS Design Lab to support this immersive research lab and share findings directly with those that are developing solutions for healthcare interior environments every day.

COLOREVOLUTION explores the story of progression into a new future through color expressed by six personas, each conflicted with two contradictory qualities to create a new world of possibilities. Innovation and progress is found in the middle. The personas are:

• The Radical: finds beauty in the decay, destruction and the flawed. A rally call for positive change.
• The Visionary: light-infused, ethereal, pure of intentions and design. A clear perspective brings attraction to materials and objects, evoking honesty and purity.
• The Nomad: grounded and reconnected with nature. Develop a more serious interest in the overall health and well being of us, our planet and future generations.
• The Futurist: subtle tones become a spectrum of statement hues. Surfaces shine with iridescent effects and mercury-like treatments.
• The Resident: essential and straight-forward design become valued above all. Utilitarian shades add a pop of color or make a monochromatic statement.
• The Globeseeker: drawn from a variety of cultures. Bright, neon-inspired colors oscillate in a pop explosion of artistic expression.

Firm: D/DOCK | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Project: B/S/H/ Huishoudapparaten | Hoofddorp, Netherlands
Charged with housing five unique brands in one building, D/DOCK set out to create one culture, one brand and one vision for the new company. The result is a welcoming place that radiates a sense of calm, open for everyone, everywhere at any time. Optimal lighting, tactile materials, soft colors and flexible design elements throughout maximize the experience and well-being of people, while emphasizing the open structure and the vision of the client as a company. This gives clarity to the total and keeps attention on the individual. Classified BREEAM 4 stars, the space is under a guaranteed take-back contract to ensure a second life for all interior elements.

Firm: Colacion Studio | Long Beach, CA
Project: Tamdeen Group | Safat, Kuwait
A dynamic, international workforce demands a diversity of spaces, so agility was essential for this project. The project criteria focused less on personnel count and more on personal requirements based on work style and client contact. With work groups ranging from retail management to property development to financial investment, the office needed to have a single style that worked from “daytime to evening.” It was this fashion approach that led the design team to create a stage that celebrated contemporary design elements while maintaining a progressive Arab culture heritage. With stylized silhouettes, a tow-story, vertical green garden and modulated workstations to accommodate future organizational change, this space delivers on its promise.

Firm: Gensler | Los Angeles, CA
Project: Shore Hotel | Santa Monica, CA
Replacing two aging motels, the Shore Hotel boasts 164 moderately priced guest rooms in two buildings connected by a bridge. The design team’s vision blends the natural landscape and vibrant urban life, taking in the beauty of the sea and embracing the pedestrian activities of the area. A metal-clad trellis over the street side of the courtyard unifies the two wings of the main building, creating an outdoor living room. The lobby walls pay tribute to the beach, while floor-to-ceiling glass sliders maximize transparency. This LEED® Gold certified project completes the profile of Santa Monica’s scenic oceanfront street.

Firm: Checkwitch Poiron Architects Inc. | Nanaimo, BC, Canada
Project: Nanaimo Cruise Ship Terminal | Nanaimo, BC, Canada
For cruise ship passengers visiting the mid-Vancouver Island area, the Nanaimo terminal makes a striking first impression that reflects the values of the region. Extensive use of warm, inviting wood combined beauty and native industries of the region. Sustainable products used in the offices overlooking the welcome center provide a subtle yet playful and dynamic counterpoint to the richness of the natural wood used throughout the terminal.

Firm: Shimoda Design Group | Los Angeles, CA
Project: WorkCafe | Grand Rapids, MI
Shimoda Design Group was called upon to refresh the Steelcase Global Headquarters for their 100-year anniversary, refurbishing a 1983 cafeteria and converting three large training rooms into a 23,000 square-foot cafeteria. It was important to integrate food and work through a palette of place and posture by mixing workplace around the social aspects of food. By taking advantage of the local bounty of West nourished the connection between local and global. Together, the two food centers, a cafeteria and nourishment beverage bar, become a real time connection for all employees. In addition to being a winner, Shimoda also won the People’s Choice Award, which brought in over 430,000 votes.

Once Shaw Contract Group opens its new carpet tile manufacturing facility in 2013, Shaw showrooms and offices throughout Asia will become an even greater resource for customers to survey the brands entire product line of recyclable EcoWorx tile products.

Shaw Contract Group – the leading commercial brand of Shaw Industries Group, Inc. – will build on its long-term commitment to China and the entire Asia Pacific market when it breaks ground in June on a carpet tile manufacturing facility in Nantong. Located in Jiangsu Province, 100 km northwest of Shanghai, the facility will produce carpet tile specifically for Asia – ensuring customers have access to the widest possible range of products.

Carpet Tile – 20 oz.

Align tile has a tip sheared striated texture for a great transition product to use anywhere. The low contrast texture highlights the subtle variation in color and movement across the tile.

Trace tile uses band of color arranged in a striated texture to create a large scale visual. Tonal bands reinforce pattern elements while also disconnecting them.

Sculpt tile is a topographically inspired, multi-directional pattern that has a textural feel for depth differentiation. Indistinguishable shapes and lines are layered to create this medium scale pattern. Broadloom – 22 oz. Layer is the broadloom application of Sculpt tile.

Each Rewoven pattern is a Cradle to Cradle Silver Certified product. Rewoven uses our premium Eco Solution Q fiber with 45 percent recycled content. All tiles feature EcoWorx backing, which is completely recyclable, PVC-free, and contain 44 percent recycled content.

The new showroom is partnership between Shaw Contract Group and Terza. Terza is a manufacturer of residential carpet products in Mexico and is jointly owned by Grupo ALFA in Mexico and Shaw Industries Group, Inc. ALFA and Shaw have embarked upon successful collaborations beyond Terza. ALFA-subsidiary DAK Americas partnered with Shaw in 2010 to launch Clear Path Recycling, a PET bottle recycling operation based in Fayetteville, NC.

The design community is welcome to visit the Shaw Contract Group showroom Monday through Friday, from 9 am – 5 pm. The Shaw Contract Group sales office is located at Av. Paseo de las Palmas # 525, Col. Lomas de Chapultepec. Sales representatives servicing corporate and institutional projects will be based out of the showroom.

Shaw Contract Group – the leading commercial brand of Shaw Industries Group, Inc. – will build on its long-term commitment to Asian markets when it breaks ground in April on a carpet tile manufacturing facility in Nantong, outside of Shanghai. The facility will produce carpet tile specifically for Asia – ensuring customers have access to the widest possible range of products.

The 2012 Design Is…Award jury includes:

• Lucy Baraquio, Senior Design Manager for Starbucks, Seattle, WA
• Aneetha McLellan, Associate Vice President of HDR Architecture, Omaha, NE
• Casey Jones, Design Director for the General Services Administration (GSA), Washington DC
• Steve Louie, Director of M Moser Associates, Singapore
• Vito Lotta, Senior Director of Design for Doubletree at Hilton Hotels, McLean, VA

Shaw Contract Group will promote winning projects through marketing materials, media outreach and an advertisement campaign in leading A&D publications. In addition, winning firms receive $2,000 to donate to the school or organization of their choice.