LEESBURG, VA.—REHAU announces the launch of a new online tool for comparing estimated energy savings across numerous window design options. The energy savings estimator, available from a toolbox feature, specifically enables users to compare REHAU’s System 700, 1400 and 4500 and GENEO window designs against wood, aluminum, steel, PVC and other window options.The tool facilitates a tailored energy savings assessment by allowing the user to input a project’s size, geographic location, heating method and price per unit of energy (either Therm or kWh), as well as the heating method’s percentages of efficiency and increased annual costs. By then selecting...

CARTERSVILLE, GA.—Shaw Hospitality Group won Best of Show for flooring and Best of Competition for the Be Bold collection at the 2013 Hospitality and Design Expo and Conference.  Held annually in Las Vegas, HD is the premier trade show for the hospitality design industry, bringing together more than 900 exhibitors and 7,000 attendees to Las Vegas each May.Be Bold is a statement of layering patterns, color and texture. Graphic elements and dynamic black and white patterns create contrast and scale to transform a space. The innovation lies in the system of patterns, holistically designed to migrate throughout the space,...

CINCINNATI—Allison Beer McKenzie of SHP Leading Design is presenting a seminar titled, “Product Selection with LEED in Mind” at NeoCon 2013. NeoCon is North America’s largest design exposition and conference for commercial interiors. The seminar is intended to give attendees the opportunity to learn how to achieve LEED points in relation to interior finishes and furnishings.Product representatives often overstate how interior finish products can contribute to LEED certification. In her seminar, McKenzie is going to discuss how such products can realistically contribute to point achievement in a variety of LEED rating systems. The seminar is expected to identify the...

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA—Mario and Annemarie Delicio of Dematech are the owners behind Hotel Verde. Dedicated and passionate about sustainability, they have transformed what was initially just a sensible business proposition into a showcase for some of the most advanced environmentally conscious technological installations as well as construction and operation practices in the world.“We have a responsibility as a company, as an employer and as a visitor on this planet to live as sustainably as possible,” says Mario Delicio. “This is the only way we can survive long-term and hand over to our children in a responsible manner.”Construction on...

WHEELING, ILL.—In the fall of 2001, Brentano introduced their first leather and vinyl alternatives. Today, both of those patterns, Vapor and Satin, are part of Brentano’s expansive offering of eco-friendly polyurethane textiles. With each year since, Brentano’s design team has continued to develop and introduce environmentally-minded polyurethane textiles.For their spring 2013 Symphonic collection, Brentano has once again raised the bar for leather and vinyl alternatives, adding two new patterns to the Brentano Green line. Primal is an eco-friendly polyurethane that has been printed with a bold animal print and comes in eight fashion-inspired colors. Remix takes its cue from...

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—NSF Sustainability, a division of global independent public health organization NSF International, has partnered with emissions testing leader Materials Analytical Services, LLC (MAS) to offer VOC (volatile organic compounds) emission testing for the commercial and institutional furniture industry. This new service will help companies save costs and time by providing all testing and validation services needed to complete BIFMA level certification for sustainable furniture.Third-party validated low-VOC emission claims are important to companies as well as institutional and government organizations that are looking to protect occupants’ health by sourcing safer building and furnishing products. VOCs are a large...

JEFFERSON CITY, TENN.—Longtime industry veteran, Peter Mandel, has created an exclusive collection of internationally known brands of Italian designed seating and tables to be manufactured and represented in North America under Motivo Furniture. Motivo Furniture, geared for the trade and hospitality industries, now offers more than 300 SKUs of highly styled modern Italian design that is fabricated in Tennessee, partnering with several Italian manufacturers that include: Costantini, Livoni and Softline-Allkit. Products include: exposed wood seating and tables along with mixed materials of wood, metal and plastics. Items are all inventoried, assembled, finished and upholstered in the United States.“The timing...

LAS VEGAS—This year’s Hospitality Design Expo + Conference, to be held May 15 to 17 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, will feature a Green Voice Luncheon on May 15, a series of Green Voice Conversations with Experts on May 15 and May 16, and a special session on “Creating a Sustainable ROI for Hotels” on May 15. More than 900 exhibitors’ products and services—many of which have a sustainability focus—will be included on the Expo’s trade show floor.At the Green Voice Luncheon from noon to 1:30 p.m. on May 15, David Mahood, LEED AP, Olive Designs and Olive...

TEMPERANCE, MICH.—MTS Seating announced that Josh Swy has been promoted to Director of Design. “Since being named product designer in 2012, Josh has created several new chair designs,” said MTS president Bart Kulish. “He has also completely redesigned our major trade show presence to give MTS a new, fresh image.”Swy was responsible for creation of the new Catalyst chair in an ultra-contemporary, asymmetrical design. The flex-back chairs feature multi-color upholstery treatments that offer customized design. Swy has also worked on an extended line of the company’s classic Moderne Collection, and next-generation stacking chairs for major lodging companies. Providing ‘Bold Design...

ACWORTH, GA—The facility dedicated to housing InterfaceSERVICES—the installation and maintenance business unit of modular carpet tile manufacturer Interface—has earned LEED-CI Gold certification. The interior includes 6,636 square feet of offices plus a 26,977-square-foot warehouse operation. Randall-Paulson was the architectural firm of record for the corporate campus, with Morrison-Hershfield consulting on and overseeing the sustainability aspects for Interface. Both firms are Georgia-based. InterfaceSERVICES took occupancy in May 2011.Sustainability is a corporate pillar of Interface, and it has long applied LEED-based design principles to all of its construction projects globally, including its LEED Platinum-certified Atlanta showroom.   “Interface founder Ray Anderson was...