EDspaces Celebrates High-Performing Learning Environments

  • 11/05/14

(Silver Spring, MD) — The Education Market Association (EDmarket) hosted the EDspaces Conference and Expo last week in Tampa, Florida, bringing together nearly 1,500 key decision makers, product experts, and exhibitor personnel to focus on how educational facilities, furniture, fixtures and equipment can impact student performance. A total of 150 companies exhibited new and innovative products in over 50,000 net square feet of exhibit space.

For the first time, the American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) held its Annual Fall Conference in conjunction with the EDspaces, and will continue for 2015 and beyond. The CAE was instrumental in planning an exceptional Educational Facility Tour that included stops at Florida Polytechnic University, Strawberry Crest High School and Tampa Prep Middle School.

The CAE sponsored the opening Keynote Address where Nirvan Mullick, Founder of the Imagination Foundation, energized the crowd by sharing his experience with “Caine’s Arcade”  a model for inspiring creativity in kids all around the world. The next day George Banty, Vice President of Sustainability for Interface, shared his experience with creating environmentally-friendly schools and workplaces. He is Chairman United States Green Building Council and active with EDspaces Knowledge Partner, the USGBC’s Center for Green Schools. At Friday’s General Session, the architects and school officials participating in a two-day design charrette sponsored by the American Architectural Foundation’s Design for Learning Program. The panel shared their findings to help Hillsborough County with their facility planning issue and expansion plans.

During the event, attendees could choose from over 30 CEU-accredited sessions both on and off the floor that delivered high-quality content focused on state-of-the-art, sustainable design and the changing face of learning environments. DEMCO hosted sessions in their Library/Learning Commons specialty space, while other sessions were held in exhibit hall classrooms furnished by Business Interiors by Staples.

The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) awarded the winners of the 2nd Annual 2014 EDspaces Innovation Awards during the conference. The competition recognizes manufacturers and designers for excellence in product design for the learning environment. The judging panel this year included: Dan Bassano, IIDA, NCIDQ, LEED-AP ID+C (Senior Interior Designer, Perkins+Will), Edwin Beltran, Associate IIDA, Assoc. AIA (Principal, NBBJ), and James Kerrigan, IIDA, LEED-AP ID+C (Design Principal, Jacobs). Winners receive recognition by both organization and media partner, Learning by Design.

The 2014 EDspaces Innovation Awards winners are as follows:

BEST OF COMPETITION
Borgo Contract Seating’s Privee

WALL SURFACES
MooreCo’s Luxe Glass Gorilla Glass Whiteboard

FURNITURE – CHILDREN’S
Whitney Brothers’ Whitney Plus Imagination Room

FURNITURE – LECTERN/TEACHING STATION
Diversified Woodcrafts, Inc.’s Hydroponics Growing Center

FURNITURE – STUDENT DESK
Ergotron’s LearnFit Adjustable Standing Desk

FURNITURE – SYSTEMS
VS America’s Shift+

SEATING
Borgo Contract Seating’s Privee

SPECIALTIES
ASSA ABLOY’s IN120 WiFi Lock

Not only were the best products on display but also the best place to learn. EDspaces showcased winners from the AIA CAE Design Awards and the Council of Educational Facility Planners International’s World Conference on Learning Environments in the exhibit hall. These jury-selected projects demonstrate quality of form, functionality, and current architectural responses that promote learning for people of all age groups.

Following the event, truckloads of products valued in past years at over $100,000 were donated to children in need through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County. “Our exhibitors are delighted to provide high-quality — and much-needed — resources to the students and teachers in the Tampa area,” says Jim McGarry, President/CEO of the Education Market Association.

The excitement and demand were apparent with exhibitors reserving 70 percent of available booth space for 2015 while at the event. EDspaces 2015 will be held October 28-30 in New Orleans, LA. Visit www.ed-spaces.com.

Featured

  • University of Kansas Opens $400M Football Stadium Reconstruction

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently announced that the $400-million reconstruction of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is complete in time for the 2025 football season, according to a news release. The university partnered with Turner Construction Company on the project.

  • California Boarding School Opens New Inquiry Collaborative Facility

    Cate School, a boarding school in Carpinteria, Calif., for students grades 9–12, recently announced that it has finished renovating a historic dining hall into a new academic hub, according to a news release. The school partnered with Blackbird Architects and Tangram Interiors on the two-story, 16,000-square-foot Inquiry Collaborative.

  • How One School Reimagined Learning Spaces—and What Others Can Learn

    When Collegedale Academy, a PreK–8 school outside Chattanooga, Tenn., needed a new elementary building, we faced the choice that many school leaders eventually confront: repair an aging facility or reimagine what learning spaces could be. Our historic elementary school held decades of memories for families, including some who had once walked its halls as children themselves. But years of wear and the need for costly repairs made it clear that investing in the old building would only patch the problems rather than solve them.

  • Longwood University Selects Builder for $73M Performing Arts Center

    Longwood University in Farmville, Va., recently announced that it has selected Swedish construction company Skanska as the builder of its new performing arts center, according to online news. The project involves the demolition of the current building and constructing a new, 64,500-square-foot facility.