Living Architecture, Tech Define 4th Annual #IDfuturegreen
Interior Design’s fourth annual Futuregreen (#IDfuturegreen) event last week gathered 40 select designers and manufacturers at the magazine’s New York headquarters for a one-day, intensive forum focusing on one common goal: envisioning the future of sustainable hospitality. Futuregreen provides a platform for bringing together designers, brands, owners, and manufacturers with the mission of leading the hospitality industry to positively impact the environment and society.
A key addition to this year’s event was access to the Material ConneXion materials library, which was the foundation for three breakout groups led by materials scientists and tasked with conceptualizing the future of the industry based on cutting-edge materials. Throughout the day, graphic recorder Roland Charriez was on hand to illustrate and bring the ideas to life on paper. A salt that can be sandwiched between aluminum sheets to regulate room temperature, a bioleather grown from bacterial cellulose, and a 3D textile that can drastically reduce the thickness of reinforced concrete all garnered particular attention from designers. At the end of the day, the concept for a “New Tech Sensorial Experience” hotel won the People’s Choice Award, with members of the winning team receiving complimentary membership to the Material ConneXion materials library.
The Futuregreen Board members selected the notion of growing a hotel locally as the winning Futuregreen project for 2015. Two teams won for this concept. The Mad Men group was recognized for its hyper-local “Growtel” idea that would use agri waste to build the hotel and incorporate materials like soil for tile and finishes and mushrooms used to grow slippers and furniture. And the New #2 team won for its “Grown/Living Hotel,” a pop-up structure designed to be biodegradeable, seasonal, and customized for specific events with elements like scented flooring and living walls. Board members are currently strategizing how to develop a prototype used to represent a grown hotel, such as a lounge chair grown from mushrooms.
A special thank you to our sponsors:
Crossville | Geberit | Kohler | Lefroy Brooks | MechoSystems | Rohl | Valley Forge