POMONA, CALIF.—The Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona announced that its newly opened building, which houses the program’s nationally ranked graduate program, was awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council. Building 80 at The Collins College is the first academic building to receive LEED Gold certification at Cal Poly Pomona.“Being able to achieve LEED Gold certification is an indication of how serious The Collins College is dedicated to its social commitment to the environment,” said Project Manager Andrew Naranjo. “At the same time, we are...

NEW YORK—Humanscale, a company long dedicated to incorporating sustainable practices in their manufacturing processes, will be committing to the International Living Future Institute’s Living Product Challenge with their Float sit/stand desk and Diffrient Smart task chair in 2016. The only contract furniture brand to participate in the challenge, this represents a significant undertaking on behalf of the manufacturer and signals a message to the industry that a net positive impact is not only an important and achievable aim for the brand, but something the industry as a whole should be working towards. While taking on only a part of...

OBERLIN, OHIO—One of the world’s most innovative green hotels—The Hotel at Oberlin—is just one month away from its soft opening in Oberlin, Ohio. The hotel is owned by Oberlin College and eventually will qualify for the rare LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 70-room Hotel at Oberlin is the first LEED Platinum hotel owned by a college and anchors the Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center, the cornerstone of Oberlin’s Green Arts District, an ongoing development conceived by the city and college to transform Oberlin into a model for environmentally aware economic development based on education...

NEW YORK—Sina Pearson, designer/manufacturer of New York City-based Sina Pearson Textiles, premieres Fast Track, a new high performance upholstery fabric collection. Five complementary patterns in a total of 30 colorways reference iconic athletic motifs and colors from the world of competitive sports. The collection consists of a knit mesh, a textured chenille, a PVC-free polyurethane, a bleach cleanable polyester/acrylic, and an indoor/outdoor Sunbrella Contract jacquard weave. Fast Track is ideal for workplace, healthcare, institutional, hospitality, or any application calling for visually striking, exceptionally durable solutions.Marathon is a large scale pattern featuring dramatic diagonal bars that seem to be on...

LAS VEGAS—The NEWH Sustainable Hospitality Committee has organized four GreenVoice Conversations Sustainability Seminars for HD Expo. HD Expo will take place May 4 to 6 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The seminars will take place in the lobby entrance of the show in NEWH Booth L5, and are free to attend.The first session, May 4 from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., is “The Evolution of Sustainability and the Built Environment.” The moderator will be Mary Ann Thornam, Program Coordinator of Interior Design, Art Institute of Colorado. The speaker will be Josh Radoff, Co-Founder & Principal at YR&G.The second...

CROSSVILLE, TENN.—Officials with domestic tile manufacturer Crossville Inc. announced the company recycled 16,939,634 pounds of fired porcelain in 2015, bringing the company’s cumulative recycling total to just over 70 million pounds since the 2009 launch of the Tile Take-Back program and subsequent TOTO USA recycling partnership.These recycling initiatives are based on the company’s proprietary process for recycling fired porcelain products, including post-consumer materials. Through Tile Take-Back, Crossville is able to recycle previously installed tile collected from its distribution network, as well as scraps that result from tile cutting during installation, sizing, or sample creation. Through its TOTO partnership, Crossville...

CARY, N.C.—CBC Flooring, a sustainability-focused flooring company whose brands are synonymous with quality and environmental responsibility, announces the rollout of the new Mature Select premium resilient sheet flooring from TOLI International. Combining an expanded collection of woodgrain and natural fleck patterns with a unique two-tier, no-wax wear layer that delivers long-lasting, maintenance-free performance especially designed for high-traffic commercial flooring applications, Mature Select premium resilient sheet flooring, available exclusively from CBC Flooring, delivers an ideal balance of strength, affordability, and durability.Developed as the next generation of TOLI’s industry-standard Mature commercial sheet flooring, the new Mature Select product line provides interior...

LOS ANGELES—Moon World Resorts Inc. (MWR), a Canadian architectural design, intellectual property developer and licensor, has revealed its plans for MOON USA. The project will rise in the City of Coachella, situated in California’s desert region known as the Coachella Valley. Triangulated between Los Angeles and San Diego, the Coachella Valley already welcomes some 12 million annual visitors. “We are thrilled MWR chose the City of Coachella as the location for this truly amazing and highly imaginative project,” said Mark Weber, City of Coachella’s Economic Development Manager. “We look forward to assisting the MWR team as they proceed through the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the quarterly addenda to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system, which includes a new pilot Alternative Compliance Path (ACP) credit that is designed to further advance environmentally responsible forest management and help rid buildings of illegal wood by promoting the use of wood that is verified to be legal. The pilot ACP builds on the robust infrastructure that has been built around responsible wood sourcing and chain of custody to test an approach to prerequisite requirements, which could serve as a model for other building...

Hospitality interiors are a shining example of the intersection of form and function. Hotel suites encourage rest; restaurants and storefronts entice indulgence; meeting and event rooms inspire interaction. But these high-traffic commercial spaces are more than “pretty spaces”—they must be as durable as they are eye-catching. Interior finishes, such as wallcoverings, serve both purposes, and continue to evolve to meet aesthetic, performance and sustainability needs. If color and design trends didn’t shift regularly, commercial wallcoverings could be installed for decades in such spaces. But color and design, as it turns out, aren’t the only shifting trends in wallcoverings. For good...