Vision Design Awards - April 2013

Now that the Vision Awards contest is in its fourth year, we are seeing growth in the number of entries submitted. The contest has always received a good response, and it’s especially exciting to see new firms discovering it and submitting great work. The 2013 contest received 15% more entries than 2012. We believe that the success of the Vision Awards hinges on the fact that the contest prioritizes design for the sake of itself. All product and firm names are stripped from the entries before judging, so those who submit can be sure that their work is being evaluated fairly and honestly.

The corporate winner, Gensler – San Francisco’s design of Autodesk’s headquarters, was awarded the grand prize this year. The judges characterized the project as “vibrant and lively without being visually chaotic.” As you’ll see, it truly embodies the tagline of the Vision Awards, “Celebrating the dynamic integration of flooring and architecture.”

We were excited to see not only an increase in the number of entries but also to see the breakdown from the sectors, as that seems indicative, to some extent, of what’s happening in the market. This year, the healthcare and education sectors exhibited the greatest increases, while corporate was down slightly. Retail and hospitality held virtually steady.

Our sponsors have remained the same since the start of our contest, and we appreciate their willingness to support a contest that may, ultimately, award a project that uses a competitor’s flooring. Bentley Price Street, Centiva, Crossville and Johnsonite have proven to be excellent partners for the Vision Awards.

This year, once again, Shashi Caan of the Shashi Caan Collective served as a contest judge. Caan has judged every Vision Awards since the contest’s conception. This year we had two new judges as well: Valerie Warren of Gensler – Boston and Brad Black of Nelson.

The 2013 Vision Awards celebration will be held in Boston in early September. Representatives from each of the winning projects, the sponsoring companies, judges and Floor Focus will be in attendance to celebrate. The trip is a great experience, and one of the prizes that entices designers to submit projects to the Vision Awards year after year.

Floor Focus will begin accepting entries for next year’s Vision Awards in January 2014.

To see more on our Grand Prize winner and the other Vision Award winners, see the 2013 Vision Awards in the April issue of Floor Focus Magazine.