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Announcing the Shaw Contract Design Awards 2021 Winners!

The following post is brought to you by Shaw Contract. Our partners are hand-picked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.

10.28.21 | By
Announcing the Shaw Contract Design Awards 2021 Winners!

Today we’re very excited to share the winners of the Shaw Contract Design Awards 2021 Final Awards and the People’s Choice Winner! Each one represents the best work happening within the global design industry – tough competition among 700+ entries received from 37 countries around the world. The Awards highlight the visions and innovative designs of diverse talent among architects and designers who are actively inspiring new ways of living, working, learning and healing.

The winners were chosen by a panel of design professionals who were invited to evaluate and review each project and the methods used to contribute to the evolving nature of the built environment. The panel whittled the field down to 46 projects that were chosen as Category Finalists before choosing the Final Winners – the absolute best of the best. The global design community was also invited to participate by voting for their favorite project, which would determine the People’s Choice Winner. Each winner will be awarded a $5,000 charitable donation in their studio’s name to an organization of their choice. To date, Shaw Contract has awarded over $200,000 to non-profit and charitable organizations around the world as part of this program.

Now, without further ado, the winners!

overhead image of lobby space with sculptural light fixture and circular seating with two people seated

ABN Group HQ Workplace Fitout by Woods Bagot
Category: Large Workplace \ Location: Perth, Australia
Photos: Dion Robeson

In its 40 year history, the ABN Group has become Australia’s leading construction, property and finance company. The core belief of the Great Australian Dream is that homeownership can lead to a better life, and show success and security. With that in mind, the design team wanted to embrace the concept ‘where together, everyone achieves more’ now that all departments are under one roof in a new building. By balancing this with the homeliness and welcome feeling synonymous with the ABN brand, the result is a workplace interior where staff can feel connected, comfortable and proud to host clients.

workspace with lots of seating

workspace with seating area

The fit-out represents the evolution of ABN over the past 40 years, and reflects their passion for building, commitment to quality, their sense of fun and desire to provide a warm and friendly experience. The phrase ‘Home Among the Gum Trees’ is a nod to the Australian folk song and to the gum trees that line the exterior of the building. The team drew on historical themes of Australian home life to create a collection of experiences for different spaces. A staple of the Australian backyard, The ‘Hills Hoist’ clothes line is represented with stylized hanging rods and curtains above social and collaborative spaces. The ‘Verandah’ inspired Level 1 Business lounge is a collection of spaces in which to have an informal chat, while the sunken lounge is a nod to the 70’s retro Australian aesthetic. Meeting rooms have abstract gum leaf and forest canopy patterns and client meeting room walls are adorned with indigenous patterned wallpapers.

multi-floor staircase

lobby space with large faceted sculpture

Leidos Global Headquarters by Gensler
Category: Large Workplace \ Location: Virginia, USA
Photos: Garrett Rowland

Leidos, part of the word kaleidoscope, is a 50-year-old company that recently rebranded and moved into a new building. The new space showcases who they are while also promoting their innovative leadership and focus on technology. Beyond the angled shapes seen throughout, their key colors of violet and ultraviolet are embedded in the architecture. Dichroic glass, invented by one of their clients, NASA, becomes a tool to integrate their secondary colors.

conference room with large screen and white office chairs

Leidos sees itself as a visionary company, and wanted the space’s first impression to speak to this idea. Artist Davis McCarty created a literal kaleidoscope, made of dichroic triangles, so inspire staff and allow guests to see themselves as part of the brand. Digital totems fill the 15′ high pre-function conference center area, and a large screen creates an immersive experience within the multipurpose room. Next, the team developed an amenity floor that brings people together. Users enter through an approachable hospitality experience partnered with a dark, intelligent technology zone. The Fuel Bar anchors it all, acting as part coffee bar and part working cafe, with seating upholstered in ultraviolet fabric. The dining platform features a succulent garden, an area for happy hours, intimate dining zone and terrace. A ceiling feature framing the entire area is made of stretched fabric with a geometric pattern. Along with a tech bar, there’s also a retreat – a quiet zone that includes private booths, individual touch down areas and lockers.

open workspace with tables and seating in front of large window

The team developed a vertical campus through a series of two-story workplaces, where each community hub includes a slab opening providing a visual connection from floor to floor and silos. Originating there, a splay of light draws users to the egress stairs. A 75% open plan offers large open zones of workstations and benches, while linear lighting rotates to identify hoteling workstations. The furniture’s glass integrates brand colors and metallic triangular patterns. The top two floors act as an executive workplace and entertainment hub. There’s a brand sculpture at the entry and an art installation to anchor the experience. The staircase is sculpted around the artwork, connecting committee rooms with the boardroom. With technology at the forefront, Leidos’ headquarters is a vessel for promoting the company’s drive to solve the hardest, most important problems.

corridor with glassed in offices on the left and open workspaces on the right

welcome desk with striped flooring and large wall of greenery

PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay by FDAT Architects
Category: Hospitality \ Location: Singapore
Photos: Daniel Koh + Darren Soh

PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay explores Singapore by breathing new life into the older, but still exuberant, 21 story urban-scaled atrium complex and creating a one-of-a-kind Garden-in-a-Hotel. One of the tenets of sustainability is not to create unnecessary waste – this applies to buildings as well as plastic bags. The existing structure was robust and interesting, and the design by FDAT Architects focuses on re-purposing and transforming the experience of the building.

open interior space with nest-like sculpture, tables and chairs, and lots of greenery

Greenery features prominently from the moment guests enter the hotel, as the rear was transformed into a three story tall green wall. 180-degree ascending planters with lightweight screens bring the gardens up into the main atrium, which can be accessed by guests via a tree-top bridge that’s flanked by 6-meter tall trees below. Garden pavilions are perched on the edge of the stepping planters. Inspired by the songbirds the hotel was known for, these lightweight structures are called Bird’s Nests and create focal points. Parametric design allowed the team to sculpt and modify not only the form of the pavilions, but how the members wrap around and define the space. The pavilions range up to 10m tall and are self-supporting.

bar area with lots of seating covered by a large wooden sculpture

Food spaces embrace the garden concept as well, with private dining rooms expressed as Greenhouses that extend outwards into the atrium space. These were designed as glass rooms that let natural light in while also allowing diners to see and be seen in the atrium garden. The high point is the Atrium ballroom, featuring vaulted ceilings that use the existing steel beams and allow height to be reclaimed. Full height acoustic doors allow the space to be fully opened up to the atrium gardens. The furniture and finishes were also inspired by the garden concept, with warm and natural finishes, as well as moss-inspired carpets that create the impression of a forest floor. The extensive planting of 15,000 sq ft of trees and shrubs complete the palette, creating a soft layered look that’s attractive and beneficial, as the plants improve air quality within the large indoor space.

nest-like structure with interior seating surrounded by greenery

Through careful integration the gardens become integral to the experience of the hotel, creating a bridge to nature that shows large scale greening is not only possible and beneficial in new build projects, but also in older reinvigorated ones imbued with new life.

building entrance with black ceiling and glass cases holding instruments

School of Rock Dominicos by EGBARQ
Category: Education \ Location: Santiago, Chile
Photos: Marcela Melej

School of Rock Dominicos, headquarters of the School of Rock music academy in the Las Condes commune in Santiago de Chile, is a project seeking to create rehearsal spaces for its students. Using rich colors, art and the graph, distinguished this school others previously designed by EGBARQ. The rooms are distributed throughout a large floor with natural lighting and views of the mountains, this is also where the student lounge is located. Next to this space, a long corridor contains individual classrooms that have been painted in different colors. On the opposite side, group rehearsal rooms with containers on top recreate a container yard. A set of murals made on site, including one of Eddie Van Halen, mark important milestones within the school.

corridor of orange and yellow shipping container rooms

interior space with red walls and a mural of David Lee Roth

interior corner space with large windows, drum kit, and wall of posters

interior space with hanging sculpture and greenery with water and stones below

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company, Limited by SIGNAL Inc.
Category: Medium Workplace \ Location: Minato City, Tokyo
Photos: Shingo Nakajima-SS Co., Ltd.

The goal of this project was to improve quality of life, with the hope that time spent at the office can be enriching and lead to further enhancement of the mind and body of employees and growth of the company. The design team created an aesthetic that incorporates the style of a traditional Japanese house as a symbol of living space. In the visitor area, the theme is a garden that shares the richness of the space. Here visitors and family members can interact in a space full of beauty. Like the sea and mountains, the Japanese garden is one of the arts using nature as a motif. Shaw’s carpet, designed with the motif of nature, such as rocks and trees, and crafts such as handmade lines and textiles, was the best way to express the Japanese garden in the office. The heavy use of recycled materials also plays a part.

beige interior space with lots of counter space and seating

interior space with booth, table, and round window

meeting room with long table and chairs

large exterior staircase with man looking over railing at large tree and wooden terrace

PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINNER:
THE CAMPUS by Kokuyo Co. Ltd.
Location: Minato City, Tokyo

The 40 year old company building in Konan, Shinagawa, Tokyo, has been renovated into a site for the future, where people can work and live creatively through the concept of ‘Everyone’s Work & Life Open Area’. The goal was to redefine the office as a headquarters by shifting the perspective from being only a place of work to the relationship between society and companies, working styles and living styles. The lower floors have been opened to the city and converted into a public space. The landscape is composed of a large staircase that runs through the interior and exterior, and greenery travels from the street to the inside of the building, creating an extension of the city. Each floor is specialized for a specific function: creative project work, fostering connections beyond the boundaries of work and highly intensive work. A different design code is used for each floor, creating a decision that can be made according to an employee’s mood in addition to the purpose.

interior space with floor to ceiling windows and lots of greenery and seating

interior working space on wood platform deck

store-like interior space

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she's likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.