Some people go to the spa for rejuvenation, finding new energy in mud baths and seaweed wraps. I go to home furnishings markets. As I cruise each aisle, checking out what’s new and hot in home interior design, my step gets a little lighter and my outlook a little brighter.
But nothing gets my spirits soaring more than the Big Daddy of them all, the huge home furnishings market in High Point, N.C. High Point is aptly named, because it is always the high point of my year as a retail buyer. It’s at this huge market that you see design trends being born and spot the up-and-coming colors and styles. (more…)
While many people gravitate to a particular condominium development because of its exterior architecture or fabulous location, it is the interior design that should really be the focus.
It’s true that in this era, with the allure of hot neighborhoods running high, that is tough to do. It’s a lot more fun to daydream about socializing in the wine bar across the street or luxuriating in the spa downstairs.
But if a person is really serious about condo living, she will think much more about her actual living space than what shops, restaurants and galleries are down the street.
Because there is immense truth to the cliché that home is where the heart is, interior designers focus their work on the abode itself. Yes, the neighborhood around the home — whether single-family or condo — is important and helps drive interior design. But ultimately, the living space is what residents will really bond with for years to come. (more…)
While her freckled, fresh-scrubbed face and wholesome smile may remind you of the girl next door, take a closer look at Suzan Lucas Santiago. She is a woman who makes things happen.
As a principal and the director of interior architecture at GRAD Associates, she and her team of designers at the venerable, century-old firm have created interiors for an impressive roster of blue chip firms, first class hotels, government offices and healthcare facilities.
A 23-year resident of Boonton Township, Santiago’s accomplishments have twice earned her a place in Who’s Who in Interior Design. She has received regional and national design awards from the American Society of Interior Designers, and several of her projects have been featured in major architectural magazines. (more…)
Buildings give life to the landscape, but they are not normally considered alive. This one is: it breathes, it sleeps, it wakes up in the morning – and it is not impossible.
When Fortune invited my design firm, which specializes in sustainable architecture, to share our vision of a building of the future, we decided not to guess about conditions decades or centuries away. Instead, we looked at the possibilities that exist now.
Buildings consume 40 percent of our energy and can have life spans longer than humans. Because we live, work and associate with others in buildings, they form part of the fabric of human life – and thus have an enormous effect not only on the quality of individual lives but also on the state of the earth. (more…)
When Fortune invited my design firm, which specializes in sustainable architecture, to share our vision of a building of the future, we decided not to guess about conditions decades or centuries away. Instead, we looked at the possibilities that exist now.
Buildings consume 40 percent of our energy and can have life spans longer than humans. Because we live, work and associate with others in buildings, they form part of the fabric of human life – and thus have an enormous effect not only on the quality of individual lives but also on the state of the earth.
In the photographs that that follow, we have configured a structure that is not just kind to nature; it actually imitates nature. Imagine a building that makes oxygen, distills water, produces energy, changes with the seasons – and is beautiful. In effect, that building is like a tree, standing in a city that is like a forest. (more…)
