MAUMEE, OHIO—Fiberon, a leader in wood-alternative cladding, announced that its Wildwood PE composite cladding was featured as one of Green Builder’s Top 50 Sustainable Products of the Year. Green Builder is the leading voice in sustainable construction, and products included on the Top 50 list represent today’s most innovative products that make buildings more resilient, intelligent, efficient, healthy, and safe. Wildwood PE composite cladding is made from 94 percent mixed recycled wood fiber and plastic content destined for landfills and incinerators. It is perfect for architects who want a long-lasting, maintenance-free, sustainable alternative to traditional wood cladding, offering a solution...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the recipients of its 2022 USGBC Leadership Awards. The annual awards recognize leadership and commitment to the green building industry and spotlights exemplary work that has been influential in the expansion of sustainable, higher-performing buildings. USGBC has selected six individuals and organizations that have demonstrated vision, leadership and commitment to the evolution of the green building industry. “USGBC’s mission relies on the commitment of its members and the broader green building community,” said USGBC interim President and CEO Peter Templeton. “The USGBC Leadership Awards are an opportunity to spotlight those who have gone...

NATIONAL REPORT—Ask a child to draw you a house and you’ll get something made up of rectangles and triangles. It’s still recognizable as a house you’d see on any street, but there’s nothing soft about it. Sharp edges and harsh lines dominate the majority of human architecture. It’s an effective form of construction, but it has left us decidedly disconnected from the natural world. This disconnect isn’t harmful, but as the world shifts toward a greener and more sustainable future, we’ve started taking more inspiration from nature. What is biophilic design and what are the benefits of this type of design...

ODESSA, FLA.—Green Lodging News has added The Mitchell Group as a Founding Sponsor at the Bronze level. The Mitchell Group was established in 2004 and is a converter of PU, PVC, and Silicone products manufactured in Asia. Its capabilities to decorate products include release paper, embossing, post-processing, and two-stage printing effects. Sta-Kleen Silicone is coated with 100 percent silicone on a polyester textile substrate. The manufacturing process does not use any solvents and very little water which is recycled. There is no VOC released and no air pollution. Sta-Kleen Silicone is approved for both indoor and outdoor use. Sta-Kleen Silicone...

Treehugger and other publications such as GREENROOFS.COM recently reported that Montparnasse in the south of Paris has a new mixed-use project designed by French-Brazilian firm Triptyque Architecture: Villa M. It includes a hotel, coworking space, and a “dynamic healthcare-focused center.” For the project Triptyque won the Building of the Year 2022 award from ArchDaily. According to GREENROOFS.com, the hotel’s 67 rooms and six suites each bear the first name of a woman or man who has marked the history of medicine or science. The building is dramatically covered in plants. “We designed Villa M as a naturalist architectural manifesto: that is,...

LOS ANGELES—Mogul Hospitality, a venture-backed startup, has announced the launch of Mogul Hotels and Residences, an (ESG) brand powered by a trailblazing elite talent engine. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 11.5 million job openings in the U.S., with an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent. Few industries are suffering the consequences of this labor crisis more than hospitality with 3 to 4 million annual job openings, 70 percent annual turnover, and a 6 percent quit rate. With rising labor costs and customer satisfaction at record lows, hotel CEOs agree that labor is the number one, long-term issue...

ATLANTA—LX Hausys America Inc., an innovative manufacturer of building and decorative materials, announced that its entire portfolio of HIMACS Solid Surface and Viatera Quartz Surface products has achieved Declare label status. Issued by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), Declare labels provide an important level of transparency by disclosing all product ingredients, enabling customers to see the “nutritional” information of a product in order to make informed purchasing decisions. “Adding the Declare label to our family of surface products is another step to fulfilling our vision of creating human-friendly and eco-conscious living spaces,” said LX Hausys America President KJ Kim. “Product...

CHICAGO—What will hotels of the future look like and how will they function? The Hotel of Tomorrow Project (HOT Project), a global think tank of industry leaders, seeks to answer that question. After an eight-month collaborative effort, which included regular and virtual reality meetups on a custom-built HOT airship in the metaverse, a team of more than 200 including representatives from Hilton, IHG and Marriott hotels, along with technology experts and hospitality school students has unveiled seven future hotel visions. “When you gather and collaborate with many of the most innovative minds in the hospitality industry from owners to operators to...

SOLON, OHIO—Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, announces the expansion of its LinoFloor xf2 and LinoWall xf2 collections, with new patterns and expanded color palettes. Made entirely of natural raw materials and enriched by more than a century of heritage, Tarkett’s LinoFloor xf2 is a modern solution to the challenges of contemporary interior design. The collection is now available in five patterns and 106 colorways, including the Originale series’ expanded offering of 16 colors made from all-natural dyes. Ideal for healthcare, education, and hospitality spaces, LinoWall xf2 protects walls from daily wear and tear and helps soften acoustics...

Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group is at it again with its 1 Hotels brand. This past week the Group announced the opening of 1 Hotel San Francisco. The hotel joins six other 1 Hotels currently open in South Beach, Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge, West Hollywood, Sanya (China), and Toronto. 1 Hotels are in development in Nashville, Hanalei Bay (Hawaii), Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), Paris, London, Mission Bay (Calif.), Elounda Hills (Crete) and Melbourne. 1 Hotels is certainly one of our industry’s greenest brands. Its website describes its hotels as a place “where architecture adopts the natural curvature and fluidity of its...