On Top Of The World

Sheila Kim-Jamet -- Interior Design, 5/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

The International Interior Design Association's 33rd annual awards take us on a whirlwind tour from the local to the exotic. Chosen by four judges—Gensler managing director Kenneth Baker, architect S. Russell Groves, CNI Design partner Clara Igonda, and photographer Adrian Wilson—this year's stateside recipients are Substance Architecture's studio in Des Moines; the Rockwell Group's Nobu Fifty Seven restaurant and Gabellini Sheppard Associates's Top of the Rock, both in New York; and Hyatt's hotellike Chicago headquarters by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. (The latter two were featured in our January and October issues, respectively.) Meanwhile, Burdifilek takes us shopping in Dublin, with a second floor for the Brown Thomas department store. The IIDA's 14th annual Will Ching prize, honoring a commercial design by a firm with a staff of five or fewer, goes to the most remote project: C&C Studio's oasis within an oasis for Huvafen Fushi resort in the Maldives. Enjoy the trip.

Clockwise from top left: Substance Architecture in Des Moines. C&C Studio's Huvafen Fushi resort in the Maldives. Gabellini Sheppard Associates's Top of the Rock, New York. Brown Thomas, Dublin, by Burdifilek. Hyatt's Chicago headquarters by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. New York's Nobu Fifty Seven by the Rockwell Group.