Vibrant Hues Pop In This Renovated School In China

2024 Best of Year Winner for Large Early Education

Color and shapes are among the first things that children learn. After a facade redo that brought pizzazz to a drab concrete building, the Times China TIC Kindergarten school in Foshan, China, might well help students learn those fundamental concepts. The original building was rather forbidding with its hard lines and uniform gray. To make it livelier and more welcoming, while also modulating sunlight and heat gain, C&C Design Co. sheathed portions of the 17,200-square-foot project in perforated aluminum sheets, some of which were painted happy, nature-related colors and given rounded cutouts. The mesh panel enclosing an outdoor staircase, for instance, is vibrant green, with diagonal elliptical openings so that the pint-size attendees can see out while going up and down over the course of the school day. That same green peps up enclosures that expand outward around some windows, while blue was applied to others. The entry, meanwhile, is bright yellow.

PROJECT TEAM: PENG ZHENG; ZENG QINGHAO. 

This Quebec School Embraces The Cottagecore Aesthetic

2024 Best of Year Winner for Small Early Education

Impersonal-looking buildings, cookie-cutter classrooms, long corridors, fluorescent fixtures—these were the hallmarks of elementary schools built in the province of Quebec. So, Lab-École, a nonprofit research firm, was formed to move educational environments in less institutional, more welcoming directions. One result: the 37,000-square-foot École de l’Étincelle, or Spark School, in Saguenay, Canada, by Appareil Architecture, Agence Spatiale, and BGLA Architecture, which takes cues from the natural world and homey cottage architecture. The complex, its interconnected structures clustered around a schoolyard, is made almost entirely of wood, from the facades and pitched roofs to the cubby areas where the young students stow their coats and mittens. Large windows let in natural light. A central open area fitted with multipurpose bleachers encourages interaction and keeps sight lines clear, helping make spaces easy to navigate. There’s even a farm-to-table aspect to the progressive curriculum: Children grow vegetables in community gardens, then turn their harvest into healthy food in the school’s culinary lab equipped with a restaurant-scale kitchen.

Vote Now for Interior Design’s Prestigious Best of Year Awards

Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards spotlight the most innovative work in the industry, from striking hospitality destinations to standout furnishings. And when it comes to Product winners, the input of the architecture and design community is not just valued—it’s essential. Product design plays a pivotal role in transforming spaces, influencing perceptions, and enhancing the overall experience of the built environment, which means Interior Design‘s editorial panel is counting on you to call out the best of the best.

Help shape the future of design by voting for Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards Product winners. Participating in the voting process is easy. You can peruse your favorite product designs and cast your vote, making one selection in each category within a 24-hour timeframe. The public voting period is open now through October 18, 2024. Once the voting window closes, Interior Design‘s editorial panel will step in, carefully reviewing each finalist to determine this year’s winners.

Take a look at past winners of Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards.

Best Of Year Awards 2024: Testimonials And Awards Details

Eager to win a Best of Year Award? Interior Design just extended the deadline for 2024 Best of Year Awards submissions, so don’t wait another second. Read on to learn what it takes to earn the honor and hear from past winners who offer insights into what makes Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards the leading global design awards program.

Show off your top projects and products and enter for a chance to win an Interior Design Best of Year Award before submissions close September 27.

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All You Need to Know About The Best of Year Awards

Manufacturers Share How A Best Of Year Win “Elevates Brand Visibility”

When it comes to brand recognition—and trust—the far-reaching impact of an Interior Design Best of Year Award can’t be beat. The design industry’s premiere architecture and design awards program spotlights the best of the best, from striking projects to groundbreaking products, raising the bar for excellence each year.

What makes taking home a Best of Year Award so meaningful? A win is a game-changer for growing companies and seasoned firms alike, previous winners share. And Product and Project categories are as vast as the design concepts they represent, whether submitting for Environmental Impact, Contract Furniture, or Lighting, to name a few.

Past winners in Contract Seating categories affirm that a win dramatically shifts the trajectories of those who submit, bringing in new clients, strengthening brand loyalty, and creating awareness around what’s next in design. Read more to find out how, and be sure to submit to Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards before September 27 for a chance to win.

Don’t Sit On Submitting To The Best Of Year Awards, Say Past Contract Seating Winners 

“Allowed Us to Build Brand Awareness” and “Ultimately, Increase Sales” 

A Best of Year Award “Validates Our Commitment to Pushing the Boundaries of Design” 

Submissions for Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards Close September 27

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to submit to Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards by September 27, 2024. For additional information, such as a list of categories for projects and products, check out the submission guidelines.

8 Creatives Reveal How A Best of Year Award Transformed Their Practice

The countdown is on to submit to Interior Design’s 19th annual Best of Year Awards—the design industry’s premiere architecture and design awards program honoring work by global creatives in the field. 

This year’s Best of Year Awards ceremony, which will also be live-streamed as part of DesignTV by SANDOW, will honor the most innovative and noteworthy design achievements in style. As the September 27 submission deadline approaches, learn why designers and manufacturers say entering Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards pays off. 

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published August 16, 2022 and has been updated to reflect more insights from Best of Year Award winners.

Why Winning an Interior Design Best of Year Award is a Game Changer

“Winning a Best of Year Award was a major milestone for our young firm”

Best of Year Award winners note that the honor signals staying power—and industry influence. “Being honored alongside long-established global leaders in design has vaulted us into a new realm of recognition; we can now say with pride that we’re doing work recognized among the best in the world,” shares Ming Thompson, principal at Atelier Cho Thompson, which won a 2023 Best of Year Award for the EQ Office for Commercial Lobby and Amenity Space: Small.

Noting that the Best of Year Awards attract the highest caliber entries, Thompson encourages those submitting to share “unique layered histories and stories,” drawing on clear photography and strong narratives. “Describe the community that the design is serving and articulate how the project enhances and builds community,” she adds.

“Legitimizes our vision of great design” and “More confidence in the specification process”

Manufacturers say winning a Best of Year Award enables designers to specify products with ease and confidence. The award also affirms the innovation at work by large and small brands alike, signaling that they are moving the design needle forward. Most importantly, a Best of Year accolade offers what John Edelman, president and CEO of Heller, calls a “validation of our belief that we should continue to create the next generation of iconic modern design.”

“Boosts our reputation” and “attracts new clients”

“Opens new doors” for growing firms

Smaller design studios and manufacturers say winning an Interior Design’s Best of Year Award also amplifies international exposure and recognition.

“Interior Design’s Best of Year Award is not only a recognition of our team’s efforts—it’s a celebration of our collaboration with our clients and collaborators,” notes Andrew Kotchen, founding principal of Workshop/APD, which won a 2021 Best of Year Award for Small Resort. “To be in such distinguished company, and to be recognized by Interior Design, its readers, and the expert panel of judges is truly an honor, and one that has created unexpected connections and opened new doors as our growing firm continues to expand its practice verticals.”

“That extra seal of approval” from the design community 

With that widespread recognition comes widespread respect among the global community of architects, designers, manufacturers, and creatives.

“Being recognized by Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards is always an honor,” says Mike Keilhauer, president of Keilhauer, a 2023 winner for Contract Conference Seating. “Having a product be recognized as Best of Year gives it that extra seal of approval from our design community, which makes it very meaningful.” 

“Emboldens our teams” to strive for excellence

Tim Wolfe, design director and principal at Perkins&Will, which has earned several Best of Year Awards over the years, says winning an esteemed architecture and design award also boosts team morale.

“Interior Design is the glue that holds our industry’s vibrant culture together. Simply being nominated for the annual Best of Year Awards is an honor,” says Wolfe. “However, our experience of winning Best of Year awards emboldens our teams to continually strive for design excellence for our clients, our community, and the design industry Interior Design illuminates.”

Submissions for Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards close September 27

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to submit to Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards by September 27, 2024. For additional information, such as a list of categories for projects and products, check out the submission guidelines.

How Mayan Construction Shapes a Luxury Condo Complex in Mexico

2023 Best of Year Winner for International Multiunit Residential

The first of an eventual 16 residential buildings across a 12-acre master plan that includes a resort, The Village in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, is visually complex and dynamic, both outside and in. Designed by Sordo Madaleno, the 160,220-square-foot condominium springs from a modular, Mayan-inspired “defragmented pyramid” system that facilitates construction—and nods to the region’s pre-Hispanic history. Approximately 13-foot-square structural boards make up the modules, which have been configured to produce six different apartment layouts, ranging from 900 square feet to more than 2,500, and one to four bedrooms. The concrete-framed construction yields a seemingly random array of terraces that add greenery to the exterior, harmonizing the project with its lush jungle setting. The terraces also provide space for residents to plant their own flower and vegetable gardens. 

JAVIER SORDO MADALENO BRINGAS; JAVIER SORDO MADALENO DE HARO; FERNANDO SORDO MADALENO DE HARO; LUIS HERNÁNDEZ; JAVIER PÁEZ; ALEJANDRO OLIVIER; ANTONIO URRUTIA; RAYMUNDO BALDOVINOS.

A Cocoa Workshop at the Office? Yes, Please!

2023 Best of Year Winner for Large Corporate Office

Ritter Sport’s square chocolate bars and color-blocked packaging are instantly recognizable by many. Lesser-known are the family-run confectioner’s core ingredients: diversity, authenticity, and tradition mixed with modernity. Interior Design Hall of Famers Peter Ippolito and Gunter Fleitz’s firm incorporated all these aspects into the client’s 40,000-square-foot Waldenbuch, Germany, headquarters, which includes a cocoa workshop, three cafés, and 130 desks. Extending the distinctive Ritter branding, glass partitions are laminated in vivid films that match the candy-bar wrappers, square cushions and tables appoint common areas, and grids appear everywhere—from wall tiles to an illuminated ceiling panel. The lively concept creates a motivating work environment where employees from all departments can meet and make sweet talk.

jonathan siegle; arsen aliverdiiev; timo flott; anna theodossiadou; dominik schäfer; peter ippolito; sabine braun; mario rodriguez; isabel pohle.

Highlights from Interior Design’s 2023 Best of Year Awards Ceremony

On the heels of Interior Design‘s prestigious Hall of Fame gala, designers and industry creatives gathered in Manhattan December 7 to celebrate winners of the magazine’s 18th annual Best of Year Awards. Basking in the glow of a towering evergreen tree, guests connected with friends and colleagues before making their way toward the stage to hear Editor-in-Chief Cindy Allen reveal the evening’s stars in project, product, and student categories. “Best of Year is here! It’s so crazy and so exciting,” Allen said as she kicked off the event at 787 Seventh Avenue. “We’re in a new theater, which is really nice,” she added.

First up, Allen revealed product winners—a difficult pool to narrow given that Interior Design received 722 standout submissions from 418 manufacturers around the world. From office accessories to acoustical lighting and wellness furniture—think: a sleek meditation cushion that does wonders for spinal alignment—and even a luxury car win in the technology category, there was no shortage of innovation on display.

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Want to know who earned top honors in each category? See Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards winner’s gallery.

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Then student winners stepped into the spotlight. “These students are the best of the best,” Allen gushed, marveling at the talented designs submitted by rising designers near and far flashing across the screen for all to see.

After a brief pause to refuel with cocktails and conversation, attendees returned to the theater for the Best of Year Awards grand finale: Project winners. With 1,095 project submissions sent in from 557 design firms hailing from 29 countries, it’s safe to say the industry has much to celebrate. And designers went the distance to mark the occasion, quite literally, joining in person from Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, and Ukraine to name a few locales. From striking home designs to hospitality spaces that wow and futuristic offices, the 2023 Best of Year Awards ceremony offered a look at boundary-pushing projects leading positive change in and beyond the industry.

Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards ceremony concluded with a raffle drawing, thanks to Maison&Objet, gifting one lucky attendee a three-day trip to Paris to attend the show. Much to celebrate all around.

See Event Snaps from Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards 

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A very special thank you to our Best of Year Awards partners, who played an integral role in creating the evening’s festivities: Livestream presented by Maison&Objet; Sponsors, Shaw Contract, Cosentino, and Material Bank, which also offset the carbon footprint of the Best of Year Awards ceremony; Student Awards Sponsors, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Business to Business; Awards Trophies Sponsor, 3form; Garden Installation, Garden on the Wall.

Register Now to Watch the Best of Year Awards Ceremony Live

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