2009 Hospitality Design (HD) Awards Winners and Finalists Announced
from Hospitality Design
The awards program received 398 submissions in categories ranging from luxury hotel to resort to spa. This year, the awards competition included some new categories including separate honors for guestrooms or suites and public spaces. More

Making the Case for Design in the Public Interest
from The Chronicle Review
“The world desperately needs a design version of public health,” states Tom Fisher, dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota, in the current Architectural Issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Designers, says Fisher, “have long sought more-lucrative work among clients who do have the means to pay. But with the financial crisis putting a severe crimp on traditional commissions, the time has come for designers to rethink our reason for being. Do we really want to continue to be servants of the superrich, or does our responsibility—and our overlooked opportunities for new types of services—also lie with the health, safety, and welfare of all?” More

Green Building Fueling Commercial Construction Growth
from Building Design & Construction
Green building and reconstruction will really take off in the next few years, according to a new report from Pike Research, which identifies a $400 billion market in the near future when it comes to environmentally-friendly building and renovations in the commercial sector. Remodeling buildings in energy-efficient ways could total $6.6 billion in annual revenue by 2013—triple the current amount—according to the study. More

Cooper-Hewitt Announces Winners of the 2009 National Design Awards
from Contract Magazine
The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum has announced the winners and finalists as well as the presentation of the "Design USA: Contemporary Innovation" exhibition, which celebrates the work of the honorees from the first 10 years of the prestigious National Design Awards program. The interior design award went to TsAO & McKOWN Architects. More

Transforming a Two-Star Hotel into a Four-Star Destination Spot
from Interiors & Sources
Impulsive Group, a New York real estate firm specializing in luxury and designer hospitality, has begun a major gut renovation that will turn the two-star Portland Square Hotel into a luxury, four-star retreat known as Sanctuary. More

Security Perceived as Most Important Building Feature, According to Survey
from Facilities Net
Building security topped a list of characteristics as Americans’ most important feature in public buildings, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Society for Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). The list included comfort, fire safety, environmental friendliness and other amenities. More

Lost Wealth Won’t Keep 50+ Home Buyers Down for Long, Says NAHB
from Nation's Building News
Reeling from a sizable decline in wealth as a result of the current downturns in housing and the financial markets, members of the baby boom are in a bit of a holding pattern for now, but will gradually make their way back into the housing market, eventually in a big way, according to panelists at NAHB’s recent Building for Boomers and Beyond 50+ Housing Symposium. Sales to 55+ buyers are expected to strengthen next year, and some segments of this market — particularly the most affluent — could become notably robust as early as 2012, according to some of the forecasts that were presented. More

Flowing Arabic Script Inspires Interior of Burj Dubai
from Arabian Business
Free flowing Arabic script will be among the inspirations for the tower’s interior, which will draw upon architectural influences from around the region and the world. The interior design seeks to complement the structure’s external architecture, which has been inspired by the geometrics of the desert flower hymenocalis and regional patterning systems, the Dubai developer said. More

Paris Unveils “Picturesque” Green Public Housing
from Inhabitat
Villas des Vignoles or EDEN BIO is an entire block of public housing nestled in urban Paris. The newly unveiled dwellings are enclosed in a small alley with plenty of nooks and crannies for gardening, composting or even small rabbit hutches—as designer Edouard Francios so picturesquely envisioned. Green walls or vegetable facades will hug the exterior of the housing block, and in the coming months trees will begin to shoot off branches. More