IIDA’s 2014 EDspaces awards promote innovative educational product design

by Brianna Crandall — December 3, 2014—Of interest to educational facilities managers looking for top-notch products for their facilities, the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), in collaboration with the Education Market Association (EDmarket), recently announced the winners of the second annual 2014 EDspaces Innovation Awards. The competition recognizes manufacturers and designers for excellence in product design for the learning environment.

Awards were announced at the EDspaces tradeshow and conference in Tampa, Florida, with this year’s Best of Competition honors awarded to Borgo Contract Seating for its Privee seating product.

Ergotron’s LearnFit Adjustable Standing Desk transform classrooms into active learning environments with on-demand adjustable (by hand lever) student desks.

“Borgo Contract Seating’s Privee furniture showed astute design thinking in their clear execution of product design concept,” said IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, LEED AP. “This level of sophistication combined with awareness of product functionality are imperative to elevating education product design and improving the quality of learning spaces.”

This year’s EDspaces Innovation Awards submissions reflect the new role technology has been playing in product design in the last couple of years, noted the judges, as well as manufacturers’ increasing push for higher design in products created specifically for educational facilities.

The 2014 EDspaces Innovation Awards winners are:

IN120 WiFi lock uses HID multiCLASS SE technology for heightened identity security and multiple credentials, including NFC-enabled mobile phones.

  • BEST OF COMPETITION: Borgo Contract Seating, for Privee
  • WALL SURFACES: MooreCo, for Luxe Glass Gorilla Glass Whiteboard
  • FURNITURE—CHILDREN’S: Whitney Brothers, for Whitney Plus Imagination Room
  • FURNITURE—LECTERN/TEACHING STATION: Diversified Woodcrafts, for Hydroponics Growing Center
  • FURNITURE—STUDENT DESK: Ergotron, for LearnFit Adjustable Standing Desk
  • FURNITURE—SYSTEMS: VS America, for Shift+
  • SEATING: Borgo Contract Seating, for Privee
  • SPECIALTIES: ASSA ABLOY, for IN120 WiFi Lock

All winning products, manufacturers, and designers will be featured on the IIDA and EDmarket Web sites, and published in the winter 2015 issue of Essentials, EDmarket’s membership magazine, as well as the April 2015 issue of Learning by Design magazine.