Architect/Designer

September 26, 2017

Sustainable Plastics: Oxymoron or Responsible Approach?

A new vision for plastics: green chemistry, the circular economy, and a climate fit for life. When reviewing recent news about plastic waste filling the oceans, toxic additives leaching from plastic products, and the impacts of fossil fueled global warming, making a plastic product – like Interface’s modular flooring – sustainable can begin to seem…

September 22, 2017

Using the BRE Biophilic Office Project to Study the Benefits of Biophilic Design

Biophilic Design as a key aspect of health and wellbeing is moving up the built environment agenda fast – and for good reason. With high rates of urbanisation, a rise in stress related illness and an increasing level of technological proliferation – it seems that we are moving ever further from the natural elements that…

September 18, 2017

Built freedom: the new headquarters of Philips in Hamburg

Breaking new ground is only possible by making changes. Initiating the process and successfully shaping change calls for boldness, determination and a new way of thinking from everyone involved. This was the challenge that Philips DACH faced while planning the relocation of its headquarters in northern Hamburg, Germany. A smooth transition from traditional to modern was the…

September 12, 2017

Design Trends of 2017 from NeoCon, Clerkenwell Design Week, and More

From Milan to New York to London to Chicago, spring and summer mark some of the busiest months of our calendar. We sent designers to the Milan Furniture Fair, NYCxDesign, Clerkenwell Design Week and NeoCon this year! So in an effort to capture the essence, I’ve compiled our most notable design moments and trends of…

September 8, 2017

Singapore’s Khoo Teck Puat Hospital: Biophilic Design in Action

Singapore’s Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) might well be the most biophilic hospital in Asia. In no other healthcare institution of this scale are elements of form, space and landscape so explicitly tied to the goal of human well-being—the very definition of biophilic design. The KTPH competition brief, from the onset, asked that the new…

August 30, 2017

Biophilic Design – The Key to Successful Designs in Hospitality

Just two years ago, Interface released a third-party verified research report titled “The Global Impact of Biophilic Design in the Workplace,” now known as the Human Spaces report. Our research results were astonishing. With over 7,500 people surveyed across the world, there was a reported 15% increase in perceived wellbeing and creativity and a 6%…

August 28, 2017

Actions Speak Louder than Labels

Sustainability isn’t easy. Although some product labels claim to be an indicator of health and/or environmental performance, many have little or no evaluation of the ultimate environmental or health impacts of a product. So, a label with a few check boxes does not necessarily mean that one product is more “sustainable” or “healthy” than another.…

August 7, 2017

Shake the Cobwebs Loose: A Design Tour of Chicago

For a guy like me who has teams of people working on two showrooms and a massive party venue, the Friday before NeoCon isn’t a good time for a boondoggle. That is unless the talented and convincing guys that produce the highly entertaining “Lunch and Learn” for Designer Pages call you to hang. Then it’s time…

July 20, 2017

Shifting the Game: A Discussion on Climate Change

“Are you really a carpet company?” asked the City of Toronto’s Chief Planner, Jennifer Keesmaat. “I am just so inspired by what you are doing and that is an unexpected outcome of being here this afternoon.” That’s just one of the comments I heard during an event that Interface and the David Suzuki Foundation convened…