For those that missed the Best of NeoCon® breakfast

For your viewing pleasure, the Best of NeoCon® video featuring the 2009 winners is now here. More information on all winner and entrants can be found at the Contract Network:

Time to network with LMNOP

Get ready to network: Leadership, Mentoring, Networking & Opportunity for A&D Professionals (LMNOP) is hosting its second networking benefit on July 14 at Knoll's New York showroom (76 Ninth Ave, 11th floor). 

Founded in February, LMNOP is a professional development and networking society organized for those specifically within the A&D community. A suggested $20 contribution to LMNOP will be collected at the door and those interested in attending should RSVP to lmnop.rsvp@gmail.com.

Reminder: Healthcare Environment Awards deadline approaching

Just a friendly reminder: Submissions for our 2009 Healthcare Environment Awards Competition are due one week from today!

The annual competition recognizes innovative, life-enhancing design that contributes to the quality and delivery of healthcare. We're looking for your best work in seven categories: Acute/Inpatient care facilities; Ambulatory/outpatient care facilities; Long-term care/assisted living facilities; Health and fitness facilities; Landscape design; Conceptual design; and Student design.

At stake: Coverage in Contract, a fancy award to show off to your friends and colleagues, and recognition during an official awards ceremony at HEALTHCARE DESIGN.09 this fall in Orlando.

Download the entry form and rules by clicking here (download starts immediately).

Going with the grain: Winners

DESIGN 21, The Nature Conservancy, and the Forest Stewardship Council-US have announced the winner of their Going With the Grain competition, a design challenge tasking participants to create an object using a single sheet of FSC-certified plywood without using hardware or glue.

The goal of the challenge was to highlight the impact of deforestation on woodlands around the globe while also shining a spotlight on designers' role in protecting natural resources by choosing responsibly sourced wood.

The winner, the Uni Table from Swedish designer Charlie Davidson, will be manufactured by EcoSystems. Davidson also wins a one-year membership to Material Connexion, and a prototype of the table will be auctioned off to support The Nature Conservancy.

Seven other designers were awarded honorable mentions: Alessandro Columbano for "Habitat of Plywood Twigs"; Ben Huggins for "Little Star"; Brian Hamilton for "Swollen Surface"; Brendan Ravenhill for "Notch Table"; Damian Barton for Hyperpolic Parabaloid Lounger": Christine Yogiaman for "Wooble"; and D.E. Sellers for "Single Panel 2, Bookcase."

All entries are online here.

 

Food for thought

Something to think about in an increasingly digital world (from a recent Q&A with Robert A.M. Stern):

Q: Why don't you have a computer? 

A: I don't even know how to turn a computer on and I don't want to. I use pen and paper, tracing paper, make sketches. That's the way I work. 

Public Offering Encourages Manufacturers to Support Socially Responsible Design

Last week at Contract's Best of NeoCon® Awards Breakfast in Chicago, John Peterson and John Cary of Public Architecture announced a new initiative that will encourage commercial furnishings and finishes manufacturers to become more engaged in socially responsible design. The new concept, Public Offering, began when Addie Powell of OfficeInsight and Ros Brandt of Brandt Resources invited a group of industry leaders, including Maxine Mann and MaryEllen Magee of Teknion, Jeannie Bochette of Steelcase, and yours truly, to explore more socially conscious alternatives to the generous gifts manufacturers bestow upon their design clients each holiday season. When our New York-based "Group of Six" teamed up with Public Architecture and New York creative firm The Moderns to brainstorm possibilities, the concept of Public Offering..."Gift Design Today" was born. Through its The 1% program, Public Architecture extracts commitments from leading design firms (more than 500 to date) to devote one percent of their billable hours to pro bono design in support of local non-profit and community-based organizations, thereby applying design thinking and design solutions to addressing social problems. Public Offering, in turn, encourages manufacturers to rethink their gift-giving practices and commit instead to diverting those monies spent to support the pro bono work realized through The 1% program...essentially adding the next logical variable to the equation of giving. Over the next few months, Peterson and Cary will fine-tune the details to accommodate various levels of commitment from manufacturers. Visit the Public Offering website and watch the pages of Contract for more information on this exciting initiative.

Not so much fun: Billings Index reports a stall

Certainly not as fun as a slinky: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index (ABI) most recent reports show a stall in an economic recovery. The May ABI rating was 42.9, hardly an improvement on 42.8 in April. On the upside, the new projects inquiry score was 55.2, the third straight month of a score in the 50s. Of note:

- The most recent regional averages: Northeast at 48.3; Midwest at 41.5; South at 41.3; and West at 39.4 (Anything over 50 indicates in increase in billings)

- Averages by sector: Multi-family residential reported 45.5; mixed practice, 44.5; commercial/industrial, 43.1; and institutional, 38.0

A bit of random fun

A bit of amusement to get you through to the end of the week: What happens when you combine two architecture students with time on their hands with slinkys...

Behind the design

A look at the creation of our 50th anniversary mural from MDC Wallcoverings and IdeaPaint:

An early start on celebrations

This coming year marks a milestone for Contract with our 50th anniversary and we couldn't help but get a jump start on the celebrations while in Chicago for NeoCon® thanks to early wishes from IdeaPaint and MDC Wallcoverings.

On a related note, we're emerging from NeoCon with our favorite picks (including this year's Best of NeoCon winners). While we compile our wrap up, we want to know what caught your eye?