NEWH - Summer 2016 - 28

Sustainability Point of View

High Achievers
Sustainable design competition honors green ideas
The NEWH Sustainable Hospitality Design competition gives students the opportunity to showcase their design skills with projects that
use the very best in sustainable design products and practices. While the project type and competition criteria change annually, winning
students receive a $5,000 scholarship, as well as travel and lodging for the awards event held at HD Expo, all sponsored by JLF lone meadow
(a founding sponsor of the competition since 2007) and Applied Textiles. Th ree industry judges are selected annually and this year the
judges were Debra Duneier, founder and president, EcoChi; Lorraine Francis, regional director of hospitality interiors, Gensler; and Mary
Ann Thornam, program coordinator, Art Institute of Colorado. "Sustainable design should be as natural as taking a breath," says Duneier.
"Interior sustainability tees up new parameters for designers, with an opportunity for cutting-edge solutions, brilliant designs, and a deep
understanding of the consequences of our choices. It was inspirational and exciting to serve as a judge this year." Here's a closer look at this
year's competition winners, who were honored during HD Expo on May 4th in Las Vegas.

Heather Canania and Rebecca Johnson

Yen Nong

Scholarship: NEWH Sustainable
Hospitality Design Competition
Undergraduate Scholarship

Scholarship: NEWH Sustainable
Hospitality Design Competition
Graduate Scholarship

Heather Canania and Rebecca
Johnson, interior design majors
from Maryville University in
St. Louis, are the minds behind
the winning team project that
awarded them a $5,000 NEWH
Sustainable Hospitality Design
Competition Undergraduate
Heather Canania
Scholarship. According to the duo,
this scholarship will help them
"be noticed by more people in the
industry and provide opportunities
to explore available information and
resources that are otherwise
difficult to find."
Their project Mezcla, a sustainable
TexMex restaurant and bar in the
warehouse district in Austin, is
designed to blend the culture of
Rebecca Johnson
Mexico and Austin. Thoughtful
design details include a food truck-style outdoor pickup area, a
community garden with vegetables and aquaponic fountain, and
sustainability features like an outdoor awning comprising solar
panels and colored glass.

Yen Nong, an interior design major
at Virginia Tech with a bachelor's
degree in interior design from
Seminole State College of Florida,
was awarded the $5,000 NEWH
Sustainable Hospitality Design
Competition Graduate Scholarship
for her project Bravo restaurant.
Combating the stifl ing heat and
humidity of Orlando, Nong sought
to bring the outdoors in with natural
light and sustainable materials and fi nishes, while local art and
custom furniture, interactive user experience technology, and
healthy, organic food appeal to a targeted Millennial clientele.
"My short-term goals are to graduate with a 3.5 GPA and
get my LEED certification. In the next few years, I would like
to learn, work, and obtain my NCIDQ license," says Nong.
"I am very grateful for this scholarship. It has given me the
opportunity to showcase my design skills and gain exposure
to the hospitality industry." ❙❘❚

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NEWH - Summer 2016

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