11.29.07 | Miami, FL | Material ConneXion released its second book, Ultra Materials: How Materials Innovation is Changing the World. In conjunction with its release, DuPont Corian will present a design talk and book signing during Design Miami/ at 3626 NE 1st Court Miami Design District, on December 9 from 5:30-6:30. Panelists include: David Adjaye, George M Beylerian, Greg Lynn and Tokujin Yoshioka.  Zo Ryan and Neville Bryan are the moderators for the event. For more information, visit: www.designmiami.com/miami/talks.

11.29.07 | Sarasota, FL | Vista Systems Modular Curves Frame Technology was chosen for a shopping mall in Norway. The Vista Light system for ExpoLink As was chosen for its ease of installation, style and vandalism resistant qualities.

11.29.07 | Houston, TX | The U.S. Air Force’s Office of the Civil Engineer, recognizing the value of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and its Certified Facility Manager (CFM) credential, has added the designation to its Group A Professional Credential Level list. CFM credential sets the industry standard, ensuring that facility managers have the knowledge and abilities necessary to their profession. With the addition of CFM criteria, The Air Force hopes to improve its attraction and development of employees with proven abilities and a high degree of technical competence. The certification process is designed to assess competency in the field through work experience, education and the ability to pass a comprehensive exam.

11.29.07 | New York, NY | Ingrid Donat, contemporary French sculptor, will exhibit her work at Barry Friedman Ltd, 515 West 26th Street, from February 21 through March 15, 2008. An opening reception will be held on February 21. The exhibition will feature Ms. Donat's textured, limited edition, cast bronze furniture. Ms. Donat considers her work a spiritual evolution, transforming an ordinary object into something artistic, sophisticated and refined. Her new furniture pieces are heavily textured and tactile.

11.29.07 | Miami, FL | Beyond Icons: Contemporary Chinese Art in Miami, an exhibition featuring the work of eight artists, will open with a reception on December 6, from 7 pm to midnight at the Newton Building, 3901 NE 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor.  The exhibition, which runs concurrently with Art Basel Miami Beach, will continue from Friday December 7 to Sunday, December 9.  The exhibit is curated by Ms. Weng Ling and will focus on Chinese contemporary art. Their works includes painting, sculpture, installation, video and photography, but are not necessarily the subject of the current contemporary art market frenzy.

11.29.07 | Toronto, ON | Teknion introduces Optos, a glass wall system offering glass finish options, leveling ranges for variations in floor surfaces, integration with building architecture and materials which support environmental responsibility. The clear glass defines meeting spaces, creates acoustical privacy and allows natural light to penetrate interior spaces. www.teknion.com/

11.29.07 | San Francisco, CA | SB Architects added three principals to its practice. Bruce Wright has 15 years of experience and brings to the team his strength in designing and managing complex projects. Tom Sprinkle has over 20 years of experience, nearly all of them in San Francisco. As one of the primary design directors, he will be responsible for the firm's overall approach to design. Mark Sopp is a LEED-Accredited professional with nearly 20 years of experience and an advocate of sustainable design. sb-architects.com

11.29.07 | Milan, Italy | The Triennale Design Museum, the first museum dedicated to design in Italy opens inside La Triennale di Milano in Milan on December 6. The museum, which establishes a permanent exhibition space for design, opens with "The Obsession of Italian Design", which showcases 100 Italian design objects set against films by British artist and filmmaker, Peter Greenaway and 6 Italian filmmakers. Architectural design for the restoration of the building and the conversion of the Museum is by Michele De Lucchi.

11.29.07 | Petaluma, CA | WorkRite Ergonomics, Inc showcased its newest offerings at the National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition, November 27-30, in Las Vegas. The company's portfolio featured the Sierra Series of one-of-a-kind height-adjustable workcenters, dual-monitor mounts and a line of workstation accessories. www.workriteergo.com

11.29.07 | Kansas City, MO | Fixtures now offers a handy brochure which allows you to design your own table. It's called "pick-a-top; pick-a-base". Select from 16 base styles, 10 frame finishes, three top shapes, six wood veneers, 10 standard laminates and up to 12 edge options to create a unique visual impression for almost any application. At the back of the brochure, find a useful spinning "turntable" that allows you to dial up your specific table. www.fixturesfurniture.com

11.29.07 | New York, NY | HOK appointed Sabine Bartzke to its Corporate Accounts Practice where she will provide corporate clients with strategic account management services. Ms. Bartzke has vast experience in senior management and marketing roles.  Most recently, she was Vice President of Client Strategies at Allsteel.  She previously owned her own marketing strategy advisory practice and also served as Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Principal for HLW International. She is currently enrolled in the Executive Education program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. www.hok.com/         

11.29.07 | Jasper, IN | Brio is a contemporary line of versatile casegoods from Inwood which offers 11 wood finishes, 3 trim colors, and 2 pulls options. The modesty panels and doors on hutches/overheads have inserts with options of 24 wood choices, 12 durasyn colors, 32 laminates, 47 fabrics, 5 chemcast, 5 acrilux colors and of course COM!  www.inwood.net

11.29.07 | Washington, DC | The Architecture Billings Index (ABI), an indicator of construction activity, shows an increase of over two points, compared to its previous mark, indicating that the ripple effect from the tightening national credit market seems to have stabilized. The reported October ABI rating was 53.2, up from 51.1 in September. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings.

11.29.07 | Freehold, NJ | Cubellis was selected as Project Architect by the New Jersey Educational Information Resource Center for a new Challenger Learning Center. Cubellis will provide architectural, structural engineering and mechanical, electrical and plumbing services for the 12,500 sq. ft. facility, only the third such center for the state of New Jersey. Green strategies for future LEED certification will be employed such as photovoltaic panels, under-floor air distribution, and rain water collection.

11.29.07 | Muscatine, IA | The HON Company's F³chair, aptly named for its Fit, Form and Function, with ilira-stretch fabric, was recognized by Building Operating Management Magazine as a 2008 Readers Choice Award winner. The January 2008 issue of BOM and FacilitiesNet.com will spotlight the winning products through a 2008 BOM Readers’ Choice Special Report. The F³ works in workstations, in open floor plan offices and in conference areas. It adjusts to seat height, depth, and tension, as well as arm height and width. For more information, visit: www.HON.com.

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11.29.07 | Parsippany, NJ | Steven Arsht was promoted to Corporate Senior Vice President of Pre-construction by Skanska. He will be responsible for pre-construction on a national level and continue to be based out of the Parsippnay, NJ, office. Mr. Arsht has 25 years of experience in the construction business, the past 11 with Skanska, and has worked on a variety of building projects including educational, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and office buildings. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and a member of ACI, TCA, ICSC, CMAA, AISC, ASPE and DBIA.

11.29.07 | Alexandria, VA | A Call for Entries has been issued for the Spectrum and Prism Awards, which will be presented at the Coverings 2008 Tile and Stone Expo from April 29-May 2. Award money of $30,500 will be given to the winners in Spectrum for Tile, and Prism for Stone. More than 15,000 entry forms have been mailed, plus downloadable versions are available at http://www.coverings.com/spectrum-prism-awards.html. The deadline for receipt is Friday, February1. Projects must have been competed between January 2004 and December 2007.

11.29.07 | New York, NY | Diversified Media Design launched green.dmd, a consulting practice based in Calgary, Canada, to provide expertise in green marketing and sustainable solutions. Jason Warnock, LEED AP certified, is one of the managing partners. He formerly was the Director of Marketing and Sustainability for Nysan Solar Control. Together with Rowland Hobbs, CEO and also a managing partner, they bring understanding of government guidelines, best practices and social performance. For more information about green.dmd, please contact Jason Warnock at: Warnock@dmdinsight.com

11.28.07 | South Bend, IN | The University of Notre Dame announced that Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk were named the 2008 Richard H. Driehaus Prize Laureates, a prize awarded annually to an architect or firm whose work uses the principles of classicism, a sensitivity to history, the fostering of community and makes a difference to the built and natural environments.  Mr. Duany and Ms. Plater-Zyberk are the founders of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company and have been long time faculty members of the University of Miami, where Ms. Plater-Zyberk is the Dean of the School of Architecture. Both are recognized as leaders of New Urbanism, a movement that searches for answers to suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment. The university also announced that Roger G. Kennedy, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and former Director of the National Park Service has received the 2008 Henry Hope Reed Award,  given to an influential supporter of the classical architecture movement who is not an architect by trade.

11.28.07 | New York, NY | Proposals for the West Side Rail Yards will be discussed on Monday, December 3, 2007 from 6:00-8:30 at the Great Hall, Cooper Union, 7 West 7th Street. Five developers have submitted responses to a Request for Proposals issued by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for development of both the Eastern and Western Rail Yards.   Representatives of the design teams will present their schemes in a public program co-sponsored by a group of architecture and civic organizations. This is the first public program at which these proposals will be presented. The proposals are currently on view in an exhibition at 335 Madison Avenue. The MTA expects to select a developer for the site in the first quarter of 2008; after conditional approval by the MTA board, the selected proposal will proceed through the city’'s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

11.28.07 | Randolph, NJ | John Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory selected Drawbase Software to provide advanced Space and Move Management capabilities. Drawbase has integrated CAD, spreadsheet, database management, report writer and web access capabilities

11.28.07 | Zeeland, MI | Herman Miller announced a series of initiatives to improve business performance and accelerate growth. One hundred-fifty full time positions were eliminated, which coupled with other actions, will results in annual cost savings of approximately $25 million. The company also is reviewing its capital structure.  The company plans to release its second quarter, fiscal 2008 earnings after 4:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 19, 2007, to be followed by a Webcast conference call with financial analysts on December 20, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. EST.

11.28.07 | Miami, FL | Luminaire, Design Miami, and Yves Behar are holding a charity auction to aid One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte.  OLPC's mission is to provide a way of learning, expression and exploration to children in the developing world with little or no access to education. By giving children their own XO laptops, designed by Mr. Behar, it is hoped that children will find a connection to the outside world, to information and to each other. Luminaire, Design Miami, and Yves Behar have asked seven contemporary visual artists to treat an XO laptop as they would a blank canvas and to transform it from the functional to the spectacular.  The pieces will be auctioned online with 100% of the proceeds going to the OLPC project. http://www.luminaire.com/olpc/ The exhibit will run from December 6-9, 10:00-6:00 pm at the Luminaire Lab, 3901 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL.

11.28.07 | Denver, CO | Michelle Ricken joined SPACES, an Allsteel dealer in Denver, as an Account Executive. Her primary responsibilities will be associated with the strategic launch of a sales platform focused on small businesses within emerging markets. Ms. Ricken has over 10 years experience in consulting and senior management. www.spaces.biz

11.28.07 | Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Louisville, KY | Royal Philips Electronics entered into a merger agreement with Genlyte Group Incorporated, pursuant to which Philips will begin a tender offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Genlyte for USD 95.50 per share, to be pain in cash upon completion. The proposed transaction builds on Philips earlier acquistion of Color Kinetics. 

11.28.07 | New York, NY | The Architectural League invites young architects and designers  to submit work to the annual Young Architects Competition. Projects of all types, either theoretical or real and executed in any medium, are welcome. The competition deadline is February 11, 2008. The jury will select work for presentation in public forums, an on-line installation, and an exhibition at the Architectural League beginning in May 2008. Winners will receive a cash prize of $1,000. A poster of the winning entries will be published and distributed nationally, as will a catalogue of winning work published by the Architectural League and Princeton Architectural Press. The Young Architects Forum is an annual competition, series of lectures, and exhibition organized by the Architectural League and its Young Architects Committee. The Forum was established to recognize specific works of high quality and to encourage the exchange of ideas among young people who might otherwise not have a forum. For more information about the competition, theme, and submission process, visit www.archleague.org or call 212.753.1722 x13.

11.29.07 | New York, NY | The PB Foundation established the Louis G. Silano Lecture Fund in conjunction with Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.  The fund enables the school to hold an annual lecture series within the Department of Civil Engineering and  engineering Mechanics. The Lecture Fund in in honor of Louis G. Silano, a senior vice president and technical director at PB who passed away in July 2007.

11.28.07 | Miami, FL | A Russia Party, sponsored by RI Group, HUGO BOSS, & Imperia Vodka, will be held on December 7, 2007 from 6-9pm at the "OASIS" at The Raleigh, 1775 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL. This Russian-themed party is being coordinated by Concierge Specialties by Victoria with design by Denis Simachev.  International celebrities, art patrons, royalty and socialites are expected to attend. A press preview will be held that morning from 9:30-10:30 with a shuttle available to journalists interested in attending. 

11.28.07 | Houston, TX | The International Facility Management Association and Building Operating Management magazine conducted a salary survey and the results indicate that an aging workforce in the facility management industry brought a jump in salaries for those entering the field. Based on a survey of 4,600 facility professionals, the survey showed that the base salary for those with less than four years experience rose nearly 13% since the previous salary report in 2004. To learn more about the Profiles 2007 Salary Report, visit www.ifma.org/tools/research/profiles_07.cfm.
To learn more about IFMA research survey results, visit www.ifma.org/tools/research/survey_results.cfm

11.29.07 | Miami, FL | Russia Miami 2007, an exhibition of contemporary Russian art and culture, will be on view in the Collins Building, 139 NE 39th Street, in the Miami Design District, from December 3-10, 2007. The exhibition, open daily from noon-9pm, is curated by Julie Sylvester, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 

11.28.07 | Philadelphia, PN| Blackney Hayes Architects was awarded the Architectural Excellence Design Award by the AIA Pennsylvania Chapter for the renovation and addition to Feltonville Academy of Arts & Sciences in Philadelphia. A 120,000 square-foot addition was added to the existing school building, creating a 140,000 square-foot campus on less than one acre of land. The design of the building resulted in a park like setting by using the school's natural landscape and lighting. 

11.28.07 | Las Vegas, NV | Red Design Studio, an interior architecture and design companyspecializing in concept design as well as full design services forresort, hospitality and high end residential design, opened at 9191 W.Flamingo Road, Suite 100, Las Vegas by Zia Hansen, AIA,principal.

11.28.07 | Sumter County, GA | Gresham, Smith and Partners won the bid to design a new facility for Sumter Regional Hospital, which was destroyed by a tornado in March 2007.  The new hospital, with construction expected to begin in late 2008, will be built on the site of the old hospital.

11.28.07 | Irvine, CA | The KTGY GROUP completed the $70 million mixed-use Market Lofts at 9th and Flower, which includes the Ralphs Fresh Fare Supermarket, the first supermarket in downtown Los Angeles since the 1950's. Other retailers at the Market Lofts include The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Cold Stone Creamery, Quiznos Subs, the UPS Store, Robeks Juice and Pastagina. The Market Lofts also consist of 267 one and two bedroom lofts for-sale.

11.28.07 | Marbach am Neckar, Germany | The Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach am Neckar, Germany, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, won the 12th RIBA Stirling Prize in association with The Architects' Journal. The RIBA Stirling Prize, named for British architect, Sir James Stirling, is given for the RIBA Building of the Year.  The winning architect receives a cash prize of £20,000. 

11.28.07 | Washington, DC | The Green Building Certification Institute has been established with the support of the U.S. Green Building Council to administer credentialing programs related to green building practice and standards.GBCI will ensure that the LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) programwill continue to be developed in accordance with best practices forcredentialing programs. The USGBC will transfer responsiblity for the ongoing administration of the LEED professional Accreditation program to GBCI in January 2008. The GBCI Web sit is www.gbci.org 

11.28.07 | London, UK | Wallpaper, a design, fashion and lifestyle magazine, will partner with Jaguar for the Wallpaper Design Awards on January 9, 2008. The awards recognize excellence in architecture, domestic design, fashion and beauty, media and travel. The readers' award for 'Best Gadget on the Go' also will be presented.www.wallpaper.com.

11.28.07| Muscatine, IA | Chris Bowden joined Allsteel as Business Development Manager for the Northwest region where he will be responsible for generating sales within the corporate and post secondary markets.  Mr. Bowden has over 20 years of industry experience, previously working with Bowden Group, Knoll and Teknion.  He will be based in Seattle. www.allsteeloffice.com

11.28.07 | New York, NY | Asymptote Architecture was selected to design a $7 billion, 256 acre, mixed use complex, called Penang Global City Center, in the northern corridor of Malaysia. Construction is set to begin in 2008 and to finish in 2012. The structure, comprised of two towers with horizontal and vertical elements and glass facades, will function as a public plaza, a venue for the performing arts center and a convention center, and will hold office and residential space. The project aims to be carbon-neutral.   

11.28.07 | Holland, MI | Zody, the ergonomic task chair from Haworth, received the Ergonomic Excellence Award from the Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA). Products must meet safety, comfort and sustainability criteria and must be manufactured by a company with solid environmental policies. The Zody chair offers pelvic and lumbar support while giving the user a sense of relaxation and control over positioning. www.haworth.com

11.28.07 | Las Vegas, NV | The Las Vegas chapter of the American Institute of Architectsawarded its sustainable practice award to SH Architecture. Thefirm's Curt Carlson, director of design and principal, was alsohonored with the Nevada distinguished service award.
www.swisherhall.com/

11.28.07 | London, UK | The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development launched a new global carbon offset standard. The Voluntary Carbon Standard gives a quality assurance check for voluntary offset projects, thus enabling business and consumer buyers to trust the offsets that they buy. Market analysts estimate annual transactions in the voluntary carbon market could reach $4 billion in the next five years, an increase that will be made possible by the VCS.

11.28.07 | Brussels, Belgium | Living Steel announced the winners of the 2nd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing, which challenged entrants to design efficient and innovative housing solutions using steel construction. Winners are: Brazil - Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados Ltda, Brazil, China - Knafo Klimor Architects, Architects And Town Planners, Israel, UK - Cartwright Pickard Architects, UK.  The three winning firms will be awarded a prize of $50,000 and a contract to develop their designs for construction of a demonstration building in the specified locations. The remaining fifteen short-listed firms will be awarded a prize of $10,000 each.

11.27.07 | Cincinnati, OH | The Cincinnati Design Awards presented 13 awards for outstanding design in architecture, interior design, environmental graphic design and landscape architecture. Six honor awards were presented and merit awards went to The Harold Schott Education Center Zoo Academy, the Government Square Transit Center, Civic Garden Center Green Renovation, Mesh Restaurant, Cincinnati Parks Centennial Master Plan, Cincinnati-Liuzhou Friendship Garden and Art for Public Spaces at Good Samaritan Hospital.