Contract - March 2011 - (Page 16)

industry Sky-High Style Moroso showroom installation showcases importance of art in furniture design New York is a nursery for skyscrapers in more ways than one, thanks to an art installation, designed by Anna Galatrossa, in furniture manufacturer Moroso’s SoHo showroom on display March 4-26. As part of the first Moroso Award for Contemporary Art—a program created with GC.AC Civic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Monfalcone, Italy, designed to document, promote, and support artists working in Italy, as well as bring attention to the vital role creativity and art bring to Moroso’s furniture designs—the display will feature an assortment of model skyscrapers that engage in a visual dialogue with the furniture on display, insinuating a place for us to explore the relationship between a city and its residents. “Skyscrapers, with their powerful iconic presence, manifest themselves as colossi populating our metropolitan fabric. Through their design, dynamics, and the way they socially structure us, these constructions radically affect our urban landscape,” says Galatrossa, who defines skyscrapers as contemporary monuments. “They are mythological beings of our times, personified places endowed with magical power.” Galatrossa is one of three Moroso Contemporary Art Award winning artists whose custom work will be featured in three Moroso international showrooms. Martino Gamper will represent Moroso’s showroom in Cologne at Art Cologne, while Christian Frosi’s work will be seen in London at the Frieze Art Fair. In addition to the three winning artists, Ettore Favini’s “Private View” and Gabriele De Santis’ “Seven Sisters” were given a special mention. Artists were selected by a panel of 10 contemporary art critics and curators from Italian and international foundations who each nominated three artists, then narrowed it down to 10 finalists. Finalists were reviewed by a jury that included: a jury David Adjaye, architect and designer; Marc Sanchez, curator and international critic; Patricia Urquiola, architect and designer; Carlo Bach, artistic director of Illy Caffe and Giulio Ridolfo.—SS Team for Green SmartBIM, ecoScorecard merge to provide enhanced sustainable guidance for the A&D community Two sustainable resource leaders have joined forces to form the ultimate green building duo. SmartBIM and ecoScorecard merged to combine the companies’ modeling services, analytics, information management, and environmental data into one full service company. SmartBIM provides analytics for users of building information modeling (BIM) technology and offers a software application suite for building product quantification and costing capabilities for architects, engineers, owners, and builders. ecoScorecard offers building professionals product search and evaluation, based on environmental characteristics for simplified product specification. “The integration of environmental data into object models and the tools that architects, designers, engineers, and contractors use is essential. Doing so will allow for sustainability thinking to be embedded throughout the entire building process,” comments SmartBIM CEO Arol Wolford, who says the new company is working to integrate green data into the actual model creation process. Paul Shahriari, ecoScorecard president, says that BIM is the future of the green building industry but that performance and green data had been a missing component. He believes the combined offering will help drive the adoption of green building strategy into the object model.—SS Shop ’til You Drop Retail designers look ahead to Globalshop GlobalShop is back! DDI, sister publication to Contract, will host the 19th annual event, sponsored by A.R.E., in Las Vegas on March 28–30, 2011, at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. As the largest annual tradeshow for the store design, visual merchandising, and in-store marketing industries, GlobalShop features six, market-focused pavilions—The Store Fixturing Show, The Visual Merchandising Show, At-Retail Marketplace, Store Design & Operations, The Digital Store and Retail Marketing Services. Sponsored by Leggett & Platt, the annual GlobalShop Opening Night Reception party will kick off the show on Monday, March 28 at 7 p.m. at Tryst nightclub at the Wynn, offering unmatched networking opportunities. The conference sessions will include keynotes from Paco Underhill, CEO, Envirosell (March 28, 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m.) on “Lessons from the Recession,” and Renee Labbe of Stylesight (March 30, 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m.) on “Mega Trends for Design & Visual Merchandising 2012.” DDI executive editor Alison Embrey Medina will lead the Retail Town Hall on March 29, 8:30 a.m. with panelists: Lucy Baraquio, Starbucks Corp.; Mark V. Looper, Collective Brands Inc.; Chuck Luckenbill, OfficeMax Inc.; Gwen Newland, H-E-B; Dominick Ponti, Lord & Taylor; Ramsay Weatherford, Macy’s Inc. Download the conference schedule and product preview at www.contract. com/globalshop2011 www.contractdesign.com http://www.contract.com/globalshop2011 http://www.contract.com/globalshop2011 http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - March 2011

Contract - March 2011
Contents
Editor’s Note
Industry
Resources: Design Collaborations
Focus: This Little Light of Mine
Practice: Global Consensus
Green: Thinking Inside the Box
Poetry Lessons
Community Asset
Book Light
Reel Genius
Fresh Start
A Tree Saved in Brooklyn
Designers Rate: Guest Seating
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - March 2011