The Shaw Contract Group hosted their sixth annual Design Is… Award program to acknowledge and honor architect and design firms and announced the award winning firms this month. All participants and awardees, selected from commercial and hospitality spaces worldwide, have come together sharing a mutual goal of redefining the idea of what design is: teaching, inspiring, healing and uniting.

“The Design Is… Award program celebrates more than just beautiful spaces. It speaks to the power of the design to transform any space in any environment, across the commercial and hospitality landscape,” said John Stephens, vice president of marketing, Shaw Contact Group. “Every project is unique except for the uniting factor of how design can impact people working, people healing, people learning and people creating. After six years and more than 1,100 entries from 22 countries, the Design Is… Award continues to champion design excellence across market segments and around the world.”

The 2011 Design Is… Award winning six firms are: id+s Design Solutions, based in Montreal; Park Plaza Hotels, based in London; Gensler, based in Atlanta; AECOM, based in Phoenix; Gensler, based in Santa Monica; and the People’s Choice Winner is RDG Planning and Design, based in Omaha. Each of the six winning firms will be recognized in an upcoming advertising campaign in leading industry publications and each firm will receive an original award sculpture. In addition, each firm will have a $2,000 scholarship in their name donated to the program or organization of their choice.
 

Click here to view the 2011 winners video