ISSUE 006 - SPRING/SUMMER 2022

DESIGN SCIENCE

SPRING / SUMMER 2022 ISSUE 006

INNOVATION

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T H E N I S

CREATIVITY

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N O W

A R C H I T E C T U R E

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I N T E R I O R S

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L A N D S C A P E

© 2022 by Cadiz Collaboration All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the whole or any part of the contents of this publication without written permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.

CONTENTS

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2022 THEN IS NOW

PROCUREMENT INSIGHTS

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DESIGNING FOR LIFE CONVERSATIONS WITH: STACY GARCIA

PRODUCTS WE LOVE: EZSPEC

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POP UP ART SHOW RECAPREWILDING: BE CURIOUS

REJUVENATING BUZZ AT THE HOSPITALITY DESIGN EXPO 2022

22 LCI ARTICLE: BUILD TO RENT

2022

THEN IS NOW

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Most conversation in the past year has been about getting back to where we want to be. The past morphs into the NOW as we move forward into our New Normal.

A key thing I learned over the past 2 years is to invest in myself. The word “Investing” evokes many emotions and there are myriad ways to invest in oneself, whether it’s through finances, health, passions, experiences, or projects. For 2022, I continue to focus on taking care of myself and remaining crystal clear that self-focus is not selfish. Instead, it’s the most responsible thing I can do in this moment to reflect and grow. A huge trend lately has been The Great Rethink and how we look at the NOW and understand the importance of people feeling passionate, engaged, and heard.

One way to self-invest is to step back and ask yourselves three questions each week: Was I excited to work each day last week?

Did I get a chance to do what I’m enthusiastic about?

Did I have engaging conversations?

As the world continues to ramp up in speed we all need to implement caution and continue to invest in ourselves as well as others. As our travel schedules fill up with both business and leisure, we open ourselves up to new places, but we also journey into ourselves while gaining a fresh perspective through other people’s eyes.

Cadiz Collaboration recently hosted our first Pop Up Art Show to celebrate the importance of artists in our community and world and their vital role in opening creativity and flow in our design decision making. It was so edifying to invest in this group of artists and see the passion on display in both the creators and the patrons.

These new experiences and perspectives help us view things differently, live our lives differently, and more mindfully engage with and value those around us.

It was phenomenal to witness the Hospitality industry so enthused to reconnect, engage, and

embrace the shifts at the Hospitality Design Expo 2022 in Las Vegas last month. Our panel discussion, The Future of Hospitality explored why designing for climate, health, and equity is so important right now.

Since the root cause of these issues are the same and the stakes are high, it’s time to shift our current norms.

Tourism accounts for 5% of global carbon emissionsan enormous impact. 75% of these emissions are due to transport, 21% to accommodation, and 4% to other tourism activities- guiding us clearly where to place our design research in ESG criteria and be in alignment with the financial markets‘ funding decisions.

These days we continue to face unprecedented supply chain and inflation challenges, global threats, and lingering pandemic effects. In this edition, we feature expert input from our esteemed procurement firms on the path ahead through this increasingly complex territory. Their keen insight on these matters is of immense value as it effects our Hospitality industry and highlights the importance of professional transparencies.

And as the housing market continues to evolve, we make ongoing discoveries about where people want to nest and call home. Tal and Paul with LCI share their knowledge on how investments, migration, and motivation has shifted the market.

Lastly, we are very proud to continue our interview series with gifted business leaders like Stacy Garcia.

She shared her career journey and the way she’s stayed resilient over the past years and made time for clarity, health, and family in order to grow her company and pivot is truly inspiring.

At the end of the day, the Earth is what we all have in common- let’s all strive to live in the Now together as one and embrace the idea of continually investing in ourselves and one another.

With gratitude,

c o l l a b o r a t i o n

Lorraine Francis, AIA, LEED BD+C Design Principal lorraine_francis@cadizcollaboration.com www.cadizcollaboration.com 5

2022

THEN IS NOW

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Out of adversity comes opportunity – Benjamin Franklin The development world historically has fantastic opportunity to reinvent itself through adversity and, in many cases, take adversity and flip it on its head. Point in topic, the build for rent explosion we have seen born out of the last 15 years of economic and pandemic adversity has emerged, and arguably gained strength, based on a variety of well documented factors.

We as Planners and Landscape Architects are offered the opportunity to help guide our developer clients in the context of creating communities of value. Like many development trends, the build for rent market is gaining better understanding of what renters are seeking as the concept matures.

With Institutional lending reaching tens of billions of dollars, investors and developers alike have flocked to this brand of “new” community, creating a bevy of competition.

This competition has afforded us, as the design industry, great opportunity.

The demand for excellence is ever increasing as more competitors enter the market and more renters traverse the nation. These renters are seeking a certain lifestyle they were accustomed to in their former homes.

And this is our editorial focus, as Planners and Landscape Architects, Architects and Civil Engineers… we are well versed in the recipe for applying design principles promoting a quality lifestyle. A lifestyle of walkability, front porch living, sustainability, parks and open space, amenitized public realm… creating community. We provide the basis for new terms to emerge in our communities…such as the “15-minute City” and the new “Coastal City” as we are best equipped to understand the end user.

Our challenge is to balance the client needs with site specific design. We bring the professional design experience to achieve the pro forma needs, balancing of infrastructure and intensive density with the creation of open space and quality of life amenities; sustaining the demand for occupancy rates through the creation of long-lasting value of a well-designed community.

As designers, we have the opportunity to assist our clients with applying our design principles and lessons learned to create these communities of value.

By Tal Jackson LandCreative Inc. https://www.landcreativeinc.com

2022: THEN IS NOW

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C onve r sa t i o ns Wi th: Sta c y Ga r c i a

D E SIG N I N G FO R LIFE An established leader in the world of design, Stacy Garcia is a successful serial entrepreneur. She is the founder of LebaTex, Inc., a distinctive textile supplier, Creator of Stacy Garcia, Inc., a licensing and design company that produces fashion and interior products under the Stacy Garcia family of brands and also the Publisher of Life-Styled

by Stacy Garcia, a digital design publication that covers the intersection between interior design, travel, fashion and entertaining. Her newest foray is in the world of Ecommerce with her curated shop, shopstacygarcia.com.

Respected for her inventive use of color and remarkable pattern design skills, Stacy Garcia knows the hospitality, home decor and lifestyle design industries inside and out. This internationally renowned designer has partnered with some of the world’s leading manufacturers and retailers to create products that span from floor to ceiling for resorts and homes all over the world.

As a forecasting and design expert, Garcia has been published in Interior Design, Boutique Design, Interiors & Sources, Bloomberg Business, LUXE, Architectural Digest & Traditional Home to name a few.

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Lorraine Francis: Lately I’ve been enjoying some amazing conversations with other industry leaders. One of the things I love about you is that you’re both the CEO and the Chief Inspiration Officer. What inspires you and where do you find inspiration?

communing with mother nature is a really good source of inspiration for me as well. And those influences show up a lot in our various collections.

Stacy Garcia: As a creative person, I think finding inspiration isn’t the challenge, it’s honing the inspiration and deciding what ideas to give your attention to. There are times when there are dry spells, and I think COVID was a challenging time for so many of us because we’re tactile people. People, especially creative ones, are wired to go out into the world and synthesize information and take things in.

SG: Being a New Yorker; I was a kid who grew up in Queens as a total city girl, so that whole urban environment feeds me. And what’s fun about a city like New York is it’s such a melting pot. Some people may be dismissive of ‘New York inspiration,’ as if it wouldn’t resonate with everyone so I ask if they really looked at it.

I could be walking down the city street and seeing how the sun strikes the soot and dirt on the pavement and the tire tracks within it and how the shadow hits it and think, ‘that’s a great pattern.’ There are so many times I’m driving in the city and see something visually striking like a bridge and I’m trying to take mental pictures and not get into an accident.

Maybe the shape of that bridge could be an amazing wallpaper or a table base. There’s so much of that.

I am also deeply inspired by travel. I love experiencing new cultures; the colors, textures, and patterns are immersive. I always come back overflowing with ideas.

I also love nature, going out hiking and

LF: I can absolutely see that.

The New York inspiration is almost a global one. Yes, of course, there’s the shapes of the buildings and the colors, where you get this sort of concrete jungle palette. But you peel back a layer and it’s so much deeper- there’s art, there’s music, there’s culture, there’s nature, there’s food, there’s all kinds of things happening under the surface. Much of my inspiration comes from that, too.

LF: Yes. For me during COVID, because we weren’t traveling as much and we weren’t going places, there were some definite dry spells. I was working through that, but it often felt flat sitting at my home desk and not going to the office and really craving the missing stimulus. So how did you segue through that inability to travel as much? Because we do love that so much in the hospitality industry.

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SG: I know. We leaned into more ritual. We live outside of Manhattan now with a nice sized gated yard for our two dogs. We’ll open the door, and they just get to run around in the yard. But when we want to go out, we have to actually leave the house, despite the fear involved in venturing anywhere.

We created a routine of walking the dog and over the course of a year, it became ritualized. But it gradually became more of a meditation, and within it I became more aware of certain details like trees. I would watch a particular tree and observe the color of it in winter. And then maybe a day later, I’d see a tiny bit of color on it. Then a week goes by and suddenly there’s baby leaves on the tree.

Something as simple as this is happening all around us all the time. But normally we’re in such fast motion that we don’t stop. We don’t usually create a daily ritual to notice the simplistic beauty that happens without us doing anything. These rituals that we made, no matter how seemingly small, created a lot of inspiration for me.

LF: I love those rituals, too. We have a small farm in Hood River, Oregon, and we hadn’t really gone up there for long periods before. But being there for a couple of months at a time recently unveiled new things. We have a couple of shared cows; one is named Rosie. I’d be in a Zoom meeting one moment and then able to go feed Rosie a bushel of pears in the next. And she just ate them, and that simple act was so fun. Watching this 1200-pound animal run down the field and stop at this precise point each time was so moving and I wouldn’t have had that ritualized experience if COVID didn’t happen.

SG: Absolutely. And while I wouldn’t wish for it again, I think we all searched for and discovered new ways to gain some inspiration.

LF: I was delighted to see you were born in Guadalajara. I know that along with being a current tech hub and having an impressive startup culture, it’s also famous for its local artisans. Do you still connect with Mexican artisan and craft culture there?

SG: My heritage is really more Eastern European and Ukrainian. I had parents who were hippies and my father decided he wanted to go to med school, and he ended up in Guadalajara for it and I was born there. So that has always been part of my story and I feel a deep connection to Mexican culture and heritage. I had dual citizenship the first 18 years of my life.

That connection remains for me. Even in my otherwise very modern house, I have a vibrant, hand-painted terracotta vase with a painting of a sunflower on it. Like most Mexican craft pieces, it’s bright, hyper saturated, and so beautiful because it’s clearly not a mass-produced object. It’s part of my collection of special travel pieces and sits beside an antique silver teapot that I got in Morocco.

LF: That’s a fun combination.

CONVERSATIONS WITH STACY GARCIA

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SG: I call my personal taste ‘modern eclectic’ because I’m not a total minimalist. It makes me happy to see things I’ve brought back from different places become an edited collection on my shelves.

LF: You’ve had such an amazing career as an entrepreneur and in design with hospitality, branding, and home decor. What’s driving you today and what has shifted for you in the past two years?

SG: It was a major shift over the last two years because we had been so hospitality focused and embedded and that’s still where my roots lie. I love doing product for hospitality design. Hotels are creating fantasy lands. Nobody’s committing to living there long term, so you can really take design risks with things like pattern and color and furniture. My heart still lives in that, but when we looked at the consumer market opportunity, we decided it was something that we wanted to pursue. So, we shifted focus and launched our Shop Stacy Garcia e-commerce shop about a year ago.

That process was sped up because of COVID and from there we had an opportunity to shift.

My core business is built on licensing, we create

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collections with manufacturers that they bring to market under one of our brands. But we’re really putting the creative vision forward for it. We asked ourselves what we could work on within the realm of hospitality that would make sense, planting seeds where it was appropriate.

We asked ourselves where there were other category opportunities and started to also focus on our Stacy Garcia Home brand which led us to things like a new rug collection, a collaboration with Karastan, owned by Mohawk, and then a peel and stick wall covering line. We launched pillows at High Point Market and have a furniture case goods line that will be launching, this is all geared towards brick-and-mortar retailers and online consumers.

LF: That’s impressive. I was reading a recent article in New York times about the metaverse and NFTs and crypto and was wondering if you’re dabbling in those spaces. I think they’re so graphically rich for work, play, shopping, and socializing, and wonder how do you see yourself engaging in this space in the future?

SG: I’m really interested in the NFT marketplace and, as you said, the world of the metaverse and crypto. It’s all still very new and being built right now and I think people who are in it are really trying to figure out what to do with it beyond this. It’s almost like a trading card frenzy at this moment. It’s interesting to me because my business is built on licensing. I was sort of in that anyway, where we’re receiving a percentage of sales. That’s how you structure things as a creative

designer putting license deals together versus an artist who’s selling the piece one time and never gets to see residuals.

NFTs changed the game for artists. It really allowed creators who are building on NFT platforms to make smart contracts and have a piece of the pie via a royalty as their items continue to trade into the future. The similarity to my business was one of the first things that caught my attention, but it’s in digital form. Right now, I’m very much the discovery phase, learning and building my network as I explore. And then beginning to carve out ideas on how we want to play within it.

I view myself and my team as thought leaders.

One of the things that I think differentiates our studio from other product design studios is we put large amount of time toward trend forecasting. We look deeply at what’s moving the marketplace, what’s driving consumer desire and consumer spending, and what’s going to be important to interior designers and architects.

We’ve positioned ourselves as a voice of authority or information that people look to for things like color trends, and not just for our own product.

In the same way that this publication is a way for you to give back to the community, we’re sharing knowledge. And the research that we do is part of the way that we give back to the community.

We’re also trying to create product that helps to meet those needs, so it helps both areas.

One of the things that we’re doing right now is working with Interiors and Sources Magazine,

and I put together what I’m dubbing the ‘Trend Futures Installation.’ We’re going to work on launching that at NeoCon in their showroom. We’re curating a space for them by going through product submissions that are relevant to one of the five trends that I forecast.

Part of how we’re working on displaying it is to integrate NFTs within the space, recognizing them as a likely component of the future of business. Designating digitally is certainly part of what interior design firms, whether it’s commercial, hospitality, or residential are doing already through the 3D space in CAD, Revit, or other systems. We’re in the digital space already, so the question becomes how are awe integrating it?

Will the residential or commercial design clients you have today also want to hire you in the future to design a house in the metaverse?

There are many questions like this we don’t know the answer to yet, but there’s a lot of opportunity to at least begin the dialogue.

To start to show and educate the design community on what this fundamentally is, how it might impact them and their business, and how to start to integrate it now.

CONVERSATIONS WITH STACY GARCIA

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LF: There’s definitely a lot of research on that world needed to figure it out, but your particular perspective of it is really valuable.

You have an impressive leadership role in our industry. I always personally love teaching at design schools, and I speak in the industry on biophilic design and also sustainability. It brings me great perspective from a younger generation and a lot of inspiration. While being such a leader, how do you pay it forward?

SG: I always consider how I got to where I am. I wouldn’t be here without the help of a lot of people. I would never have been able to grow my company without the talent that comes in from my team every day. Whether it’s purchasing, customer service, or design it takes that village.

It’s so important to have mentoring and relationship building as part of what you do.

Then there were the people who came before me with no skin in the game, who I worked with when I was young and hungry and bright eyed and bushy tailed.

The people who put their arm around me and said, okay, here’s what you do, which meant everything.

One of the simple things that I still remember today is something my close friend Martha taught me at my first trade show. There’s about a 25-year age difference between us and she was on the sales and production side, and I was a designer. She saw that I was like a deer in headlights, and she taught me exactly how to greet people and introduce myself.

And that became wisdom I translated into training other people at trade shows.

Those are the things that you never forget.

I’m so grateful to the people who mentored me, and I try to reciprocate that.

I try to say yes to as many requests for advice or interviews as I can because I’m

appreciative of the people who said yes to me.

LF: Speaking of your younger self, is there any piece of advice you would give her?

SG: I often feel like I’m in a rush, but when I was listening to you talk about your farm, I felt myself take such a deep breath. I think that’s why biophilic design is so important.

When we reconnect with nature and take a pause to recharge our batteries, it makes such a huge difference. It’s advice I would give myself when I was just starting out and it’s still advice that I need to take today.

I think as a creative, visionary person, there’s so much I want to do and get done. I’m like a kid in a candy shop, so kissing the first question you asked about inspiration sources, the answer was really from everywhere. And the issue is usually not lack of inspiration, it’s lack of hours in the day to do it all. I remember hearing a quote fairly recently that was great advice: you can do anything; you just can’t do everything.

It’s all about deciding what the most important things are that are deserving of your time and attention. It takes wisdom to understand in one lifetime you’re not going to do it all. And the other piece of that is to fully be where your feet are planted.

LF: Yes. I always like to make a theme for myself every year. This year it’s ‘focus and flow,’ last year was ‘freedom and joy’ and the year before was ‘resilience and strength.’

SG: Yes, I, I love that. I do the same thing.

Last year was ‘prune,’ as in ‘prune your garden, you cannot do it all.’ So, we get focused on what we can do and what’s important.

CONVERSATIONS WITH STACY GARCIA

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LF: Exactly. I love your Life-Styled blog, and the Color Crush features. What do you see trending in colors in the coming 12 months in hospitality?

SG: Yes, the Color Crush is a crowd favorite. It’s one of our most viewed series with people from the design and manufacturing worlds and even consumers are always so curious about what colors are coming up. I’m a shareholder of Color Marketing Group, the premiere international color forecasting association.

We meet at a summit once a year and have meetings that are cross market, cross category.

You get industry competitors and people up and down the supply chain sitting together. People who are working on chemicals that go into making the colorant, or who are extruding or spinning the yarns, or working for the factories that extract the yarns, or wall covering and carpet manufacturers, as well as interior designers and marketing peopleanyone who’s involved in color can be part of this organization.

It’s a great cross section of information, sharing ideas and forecasting together. It’s a straightforward process, everybody comes with their palettes, they get pinned up and you see where the overlaps are and anything that’s an outlier goes. Then there are passionate conversations hashing out, for example, the precise yellow that we’re going to see.

In the palettes from Color Marketing Group, we’re seeing more saturation again, a desire for sort of more color immersion in our lives as we come out of all of this collective funk we’ve been experiencing. And if you look at sort of what most paint companies declared as their color of the year, it was a shade of green. That says a lot about our desire to reconnect with nature. In the right shade, green almost becomes a neutral and we’re definitely seeing it on the radar.

Of course, some products that we work with can’t catch up to trending colors as fast as a paint company, who can declare it, mix their green paint, and get it quickly to market. If you’re tufting carpets, it takes time to create new yarn systems.

You can’t just wiggle your nose and implement an immediate change because the market is trending green. And for as much influence as I like to think I have; forecasting is one thing, but actual market implementation is another.

Committing at a factory level to adding colors into your machinery and operations is expensive.

If you’re a textile manufacturer or making nylon carpets, these are costly inventory decisions.

There’s some catch up that happens when you’re at that level of manufacturing, so it’s interesting to track the rolling wave that trends tend to follow.

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LF: That’s interesting to see it from that perspective. Pivoting to space, you and I share a similar belief about it and how it should be curated over time. That it’s always evolving and added to and edited with things that bring you joy. Can you elaborate on this belief?

SG: Yes, your space is really a reflection of what your feeling of the world is, right? Your surroundings say something about you in the same way the fashion you choose to dress yourself in says something about you to the world. And it should evolve and be curated and edited because sometimes we get so comfortable that we stop seeing things.

I just went through this in my own office where I really challenged the team to reconceive the space and we ended up doing a huge purge.

We were remote for almost two years, and we changed in that time. I didn’t want us to return to a time capsule, looking at our office space through the same lens as two years ago because we’re different people now.

We change and shift and as our tastes and goals and desires and needs change, our space really should change along with it. The way you dress yourself reflects how you want to be perceived and, what your belief structure is. Do

you want to be more comfortable or casual?

Are you more into high fashion? Do you want to look funky? All of those things say something about you, and you don’t have to be married to any one of them forever. Style is evolutionary for most people and style applies to interiors as much as it applies to fashion, and it’s all about creating your sense of style. I watch my own taste change, sometimes based on the mood around me or what I need at the time or what’s speaking to me.

LF: I like the idea of editing and repeating the edit and re-repeating the edit to make room for more inspiration which make more room for your life.

SG: To also make room for more growth. When we wanted our fourth child, in order to manifest that it took going through the process of asking where she’d be living. Where is this human going to reside in this house? Because right now there’s no space for her. We went through the steps of bunking up two of our kids and creating a nursery and proactively making space for her. Whether it’s in your business, your office, your personal space, or your home, editing creates space for new opportunities for yourself.

CONVERSATIONS WITH STACY GARCIA

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LF: Space is key. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about you?

SG: I really do believe it’s my mission to help create beautiful things and elevate people. I get up every day as a creative person and try to uplift in some way. Sometimes that’s through art, sometimes it’s through design, sometimes it’s through new product, sometimes it’s through conversation. That’s really what makes me happiest along with being part of the spaces created by the interior designers and architects we work with. Seeing them using our tiles or wall coverings or other products definitely brings me joy.

But what brings me even deeper joy is the idea that people are going to experience these spaces and hopefully have happy memories in them. That they’ll be wowed by them. It’s coming back to that human element of what we do. My goal is really to provide inspiration. Our tagline is ‘Stay Inspired’ and think it speaks volumes on so many distinct levels.

LF: I love it. It’s simple. And it’s perfect.

SG: Thank you so much.

LF: Thank you, Stacy- it’s been truly inspiring to speak with you.

CONVERSATIONS WITH STACY GARCIA

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Pop Up Art Show

REWILDING BE CURIOUS

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Nature has the power to heal itself and to heal us, if we let it. Our “rewilding” art show concept was simple: in humans it’s the idea of reverting back to a natural state of being, a way we were before modern culture confined us. This form of taming causes us to feel unseen, depleted, heartbroken, and often disconnected and hungry for something more.

On Saturday, May 7th, Cadiz Collaboration hosted our first art show, a pop-up event held at a great new event space in Costa Mesa, The Shindy.

The concept of our pop-up art show, RewildingBe Curious, encouraged an inquisitive state of mind and reminded us all to surround ourselves with things that nourish us, make us feel alive, and evoke our inner emotions. Art induces a state of "FLOW", a feeling of being in the zone. It brings us a sense of losing all self-consciousness, surrendering ourselves, and a magical feeling of being fully present. Art touches us emotionallyeach unique piece tells a story.

It was an invigorating evening of approachable artwork from nine local artists working across multiple mediums. We aimed to offer something for everyone, with a wide-ranging array of over 160 pieces.

Art can be a tonic and a teacher. We’re surrounded by art in different ways each day, whether it's music, fashion, poetry, or painting.

It accesses different parts of the human brain allowing us to problem-solve, as well as making more complex concepts easier to understand by providing us with a visual format instead of just numbers or words.

We loved that so many people attended and took time to be curious with us. The energy and buzz were tremendous and many exciting pieces found new homes. This successful first foray will hopefully be one in a series of ongoing pop-up events for us as we take time to focus on the healing power of art and to encourage the artists around us.

Featured Artists: Cabeza De Vaca, Maris Racibarskas, Norman Korpi, Mia Mia, Alma Schlimmeyer, Ashley Wilhardt. Lulu Waters.

Kevin Russel, and Lorraine Francis.

Visit us at www.cadizcollaboration.com/art to download our art show catalog and find out more about each artist and direct message them if you are interested in an original piece.

10% of all profit was donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County.

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Build to Rent

By Tal Jackson and Paul Wong from Land Creative, Inc. 22

The single-family home market in America is evolving rapidly. Although the rental market for single family homes (SFR’s) is a tried and true one, there has been an emerging shift in ownership and the scale of ownership of these in-demand properties. Subsequently, new approaches to design, programming, management, and maintenance have continued to surface and are subject to ongoing innovation. As competition for the market increases, cities and towns apply lessons learned from existing product, and renters’ quality of life expectations rise in tandem with the increase in housing choices.

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What Brought Us Here Historically, most SF rental homes have been individual properties owned by families and small-scale local landlords. Investing in real estate was often viewed as a gateway towards building personal wealth. Establishing rental income opportunities created a steady monthly revenue stream beneficial for private individuals.

As this market developed and thrived, a parallel market emerged of both high- and low-density apartment rentals being developed and managed by large landlord groups.

Enter the economic downturn of 2007/2008 and the ensuing real estate crash through 2010. As the market became flooded with distressed homes communities resulting from the subprime mortgage crisis, developers recognized a significant opportunity to buy and renovate many of these distressed properties and rather than sell them, rent them out at a scale not afforded before the downturn. With this model, these large-scale SF rental homes communities became widespread throughout different communities nationwide. The scale of the distressed market afforded these developers the ability to purchase large tracts of homes either abandoned or foreclosed on, resulting in the model of large-scale rentable communities.

Entire neighborhoods were transformed from for sale communities to for-rent communities.

Resultingly, the development community took note as conversion of these communities from distressed assets on their books to solvent, revenue-producing income properties became remarkably interesting to investors interested in this new opportunity.

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Unfortunately, many of these early development and investment groups failed to understand the importance of creating truly livable communities, providing quality of life amenities.

This lack of consideration created a perception in some jurisdictions and with some political pundits that developers were in effect creating what some have termed “the next slums of America.” As more investment dollars pour into this expanding market, many development groups unfortunately have and continue to underestimate the importance of creating real community. The perception of these under programmed communities lacking quality of life amenities has become a real challenge for the rental market industry to overcome for those entering on the heels of these sterile neighborhoods.

City Planners, Council Members, and Leaders have come under scrutiny and increasing pressure by their constituents to not allow these rental communities to be built based on these early lackluster development examples. These early results have many jurisdictions entirely blocking or placing a moratorium on these build-to-rent communities until they can better understand their long-term impact to their cities and towns. As the industry becomes more sophisticated given outside pressures applied by the jurisdictions and the renters, slippery footing out of the gate has offered massive opportunities to change the way modern rental communities are being planned, designed, and implemented.

BUILD TO RENT

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Changing Abilities and Beliefs The ongoing pandemic has exposed the fact that more potential buyers than ever are being priced out of the real estate ownership market. The prospect of accumulating a 20% down payment has become more dauting as available homes become fewer and farther between and prices soar.

Additionally, more people are longing to relocate and “nest” as a protective measure in a rapidly changing world. Rising material and construction costs along with increased interest rates and property taxes are added factors that discourage many would-be buyers from entering the current real estate market.

Multiple studies have also suggested that it makes more financial sense to rent vs. purchase over the course of a lifetime, unseating the long-held “American Dream” and the age-old idea that wealth is built through home ownership or real estate investment. A New York Times article recently indicated the monetary advantage of renting over owning is a global pattern.

In the US, average mortgage rates exceed average rental rates by a dramatic 18%.

Add to that continuous maintenance and repair costs and expensive homeowner’s insurance premiums and it’s easy to see why renting has become increasingly palatable for so many.

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New Needs and Preferences Among those preferring to rent over owning a home, location is incredibly vital. As remote work continues to take hold across major industries and cities are actively courting new workers, many prospective renters are relocating from major urban areas like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities along the West Coast.

While these potential transplants may be game to adapt to new environments in Texas, Florida, or in various Southern markets, they retain certain expectations for quality of life that need to be addressed and met. These expectations include architectural character, lifestyle amenities, walkability, and ample accessible green spaces. This creates a competitive environment among developers to entice renters by pushing the design envelope of planned communities.

Age matters, as well. Millennials and Gen Xers living in pre-pandemic days were more likely to stick close to urban centers but are now more desirous of experiencing a single-family home lifestyle, including increased interior living space and private outdoor areas.

On the other end of the spectrum, empty nesters ready to downsize are seeking amenities like pools, recreation centers, and outdoor wellness and community programming. They are also motivated to turn bothersome home maintenance concerns over to management groups as they head towards retirement and their golden years.

BUILD TO RENT

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Past and Present Driving Innovation

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As these migration and motivational shifts continue, the developers who may have previously invested in large multifamily properties have seized the opportunity that the $30 billion dollar SFR market represents and are capitalizing on it.

While institutions began investing more in SFRs between 2013 and 2015 and larger lenders followed suit soon after, the pandemic has increased market demand exponentially, giving institutions the confidence to develop communities based entirely on the buildto-rent (BTR) principle. Although noninstitutional investors currently hold three quarters of the SFR market, that balance is changing rapidly.

Developers have looked to earlier planned communities like Seaside, first built in the early 1980’s and WaterColor, established in 1999, for inspiration. Both of these Florida locations focused on ideas of local living and outdoor accessibility and ease. These concepts have gained increasing popularity in the BTR market, helping to encourage a communal/ village sensibility that attracts multiple demographics looking for an alternative to crowded and detached city life.

BUILD TO RENT

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Inside/Outside Balance LCI, as a trusted design advisor to both new and many existing clients, draws upon our four decades of creating community to provide designs with greater amenitized open space, applying new urbanist principles for walkability, promoting health and wellness, and alley-loaded product focused on front porch living.

We have chosen to honor sustainability and the green space while reducing the need for infrastructure resulting in a quality of life within the community rivaling that of the hotel resort villa. Balancing our Client’s demands for lot sizes, variation, and product type and the needs of each community has become a welcomed challenge to the firm. Where forfeiture of backyards may occur with smaller lots, we seek to enhance the public realm of the development to provide the tenant with alternative means of open space experiences.

BUILD TO RENT

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Taking these earlier concepts to new places, our modern, urbanized layouts provide a resort quality lifestyle through amenitized open spaces and friendly front door style living. The layouts themselves lend a sense of openness and community, encouraging families and friends to bond through shared experiences.

Good design incorporates the natural landform and unique landscapes on a project-by-project basis and offers a land plan that responds to its natural environment. This per project approach helps provide quality communities that are tied into a true sense of place.

Quality of life and wellness is instrumental in the planning of these communities, with walkability being key. Numerous sidewalks and trails, dog parks, outdoor workout stations, and other healthful amenities encourage residents to connect with one another in beneficial way.

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BUILD TO RENT

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Outlook Focusing In As would-be-buyers continue to morph into will-be-renters, the importance of providing quality design, safe communities, and healthy amenities only increases. Trends in localization dovetail with this development trend, highlighting the importance of sustainable living and supporting local businesses.

And as the American Dream shifts away from home ownership, the dream of having access to one’s own physical space remains strong.

The build-to-rent market seeks to strike a balance that is comfortable and attainable for a growing market share in a changing economic and social environment.

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BUILD TO RENT

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PROCUREMENT INSIGHTS Written by Lorraine Francis

We recently reached out to some of our FF&E and OS&E procurement experts to get their perspective on the shifting Hospitality industry procurement conditions.

Cary Schirmer (Chief Executive Officer of HPG) Alan Benjamin (President of Benjamin West,) Bryce Sprecher (CEO of SUMMA,) Carl Long (Senior Vice President at PMI,) Michael Orloff (Executive Vice-President at The Stroud Group) and Jennifer Chesek (Vice President at Beyer Brown) responded generously to some of our questions about the current purchasing landscape.

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What are your top challenges and how are you strategizing around them?

Alan Benjamin, Benjamin West: Recently two hundred million people were locked down in China throughout 44 cities and 16% of all factories closed. Even if a major factory remained open, a key component factory that supplies it might be closed, creating a domino effect. Inflation and higher fuel costs are two other major challenges.

Lastly, while most owners retained their hotels during covid and deferred renovations, some properties changed ownership.

Overall, there is backlog of PIP’s since 2020, plus new renovations and new builds all hitting at once. It is a perfect storm of demand to navigate, with the supply chain issues making it even more difficult.

Cary Schirmer, HPG: Lack of Reliability: Binding vendors to clients who are not ready to receive. It’s better to buy goods and then store them than risk future cost increases and delays.

Rising Inflation/Interest Rates: The future cost of money will postpone or delay timelines- it’s better off to proceed now. This money will be more expensive in next year.

Budget Completion: It’s been difficult to get an accurate all-in budget number with ever changing vendor pricing. It’s become a game of musical chairs where it’s better to slide instead of getting out of the chair entirely.

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Carl Long, PMI: Pricing volatility is a huge challenge - vendors are unable to effectively quote quickly and are unable to hold prices. This affects the model room process.

Freight has become very costly and delivery times have become less reliable.

Product availability has also decreased. Some products cannot be made at all, and others require extended time to be produced.

We’ve strategized by advising clients to extend their pre-planning predevelopment timelines.

This gives the design team, vendors, and us the ability to develop sourcing strategies that fit the current conditions.

Michael Orloff, The Stroud Group: Unreliable lead-times, product shortages, and quality control issues. Know your vendors and foster those relationships. Add time to the schedule to account for extended lead times.

A few months of extra warehousing is always less expensive than a delayed opening. Always have a plan “B” and “C” ready for product or vendor substitutions. Always include attic stock in your counts and have all vendors include a warranty that covers any quality issues that may be discovered in the future.

With unknown cost escalations how are you balancing owner expectations?

Bryce Sprecher, SUMMA: At Summa, we feel as though we’re constantly doing our due diligence to stay ahead of the game to avoid price escalations where we see them. With our enormous library of manufacturer sourcing worldwide, we’re able to proactively avoid price escalations while providing our owners (and designers) viable options that will execute both on design aesthetic and budget. With the current environment, it’s really a game of chess and we love nothing more than the challenge of seeing the next best moves that will ultimately benefit our projects.

The Knickerbocker Hotel, by Benjamin West

Carl Long, PMI: As always, we keep our clients up-to-date regularly, communicating changes in costs timelines, and increasing recommended contingencies.

Michael Orloff, The Stroud Group: The easy answer is multi-fold. Always include a contingency in the budget, overcommunicate the importance of timeline for procurement because even slight delays can not only adversely affect manufacturers’ lead-time, but pricing could also escalate.

Make sure the client is aware of any possible price increases at every step.

Cary Schirmer, HPG: Overall with more transparency of cost, having bigger contingencies, and keeping items separate- similar to our strategy with the 2017/2018 tariff. Clients need more detail from cost/contingency/freight/freight premium and warehousing.

The Westin Lima Hotel, by HPG

Jennifer, Beyer Brown: It is so important to have honest and realistic conversations with owners very early on in the project. While difficult to predict future escalation or inflation, we rely on constant communication with manufacturers and freight/logistic companies to keep us current on trends and outlooks. It is important to note that not only the price of the goods, but also the lead time extensions impact final costs. Knowing how to properly evaluate price with lead times has been crucial.

PROCUREMENT INSIGHTS

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What are some new revelations that you have learned over the past 2 years that have improved your business strategy & operations?

Alan Benjamin, Benjamin West: This is a time to overcommunicate. Bad news does not get better with age. We have always done an at-risk report (that highlights the top 2 or 3 items that are most time urgent) and that has been even more important today to not miss a manufacturing or shipping window. This current environment proves the importance of a flight to quality and which vendors to best use. It’s not a time for picking the lowest bidder that is not proven. This is where our best-in-class vendor relationships are most important, as issues can be solved expediently.

Our proprietary RPM™ system, that we have continually invested in and is no charge to all vendors and clients, has proven to be an invaluable asset with remote working. It was definitely money well spent. Overall, we are being very proactive because as a purchasing leader we have the best vendor relationships in the industry. 35–40-year-old relationships are rare and it’s times like these when the value of those relationship improves our ability to perform for our clients.

Cary Schirmer, HPG: We’ve learned to start as early as possible. There are too many excuses that emerge in this shifting landscape, and we want to be ready to respond and pivot when necessary.

Carl Long, PMI: Operationally we have to become better at communicating changes as soon as possible. This means identifying the challenges quickly and presenting solutions that can keep a project’s critical timeline safe.

Jennifer, Beyer Brown: Maybe not a new revelation, but by taking some time to add to and enhance our current systems was a great investment.

Creating new ways our technology can reach our clients and provide more efficiencies proved to be crucial in this now time of having not enough time.

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Any unexpected “ah-ha” moments?

Circa Resort & Casino, by PMI

Four Seasons Costa Palmas Casitas, by SUMMA

Bryce Sprecher, SUMMA: We’re never short of “ah ha” moments in this industry and love the challenge of always staying on our toes. I think the curveball no one could have expected was China holding freight hostage over the past 2 years and charging a premium on top of exorbitant shipping rates to get product on the next ship out. We have been moving away from China over the past 5 years and are 95% (and in many cases 100%) manufacturing “other than China” so as to avoid any of these unforeseen scenarios.

Cary Schirmer, HPG: Who would have thought Shanghai would be facing fifty million people under lockdown, with boats piled up?

A few years ago, Walmart set a freight price of $7,800 for 24 months when other costs where at rock bottom at $1,500-$2,200. Now with costs at $15,000 to the West Coast and $21,000 to the East Coast this has proved to be a great move for them.

Also, many smaller cargo ships that could hold 700-800 containers are now out of business, so this is creating an impact. Super vessels are 4,0006,000 containers, so we have also lost fleets.

Sable at Navy Pier, by Beyor Brown

Carl Long, PMI: Working with vendors that are willing to share the challenges in their supply chain openly has deepened the effectiveness of our project management efforts.

Michael Orloff, The Stroud Group: There have been plenty of uh-oh moments – meaning promises you know can’t be kept and you need to steer away from situations. Ah-ha moments are finding new sources that produce domestically.

PROCUREMENT INSIGHTS

The Fairmont Pacific Rim, by The Stroud Group

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How do you see manufacturers domestically in North America changing in next 2-5 years?

Do you see further purchasing impacts with current situations with Russia/Ukraine?

Alan Benjamin, Benjamin West: Human tragedy, but beyond that it’s affecting things more than we first thought by the impact of steel/electrical and 7% of wiring harnesses for the auto industry being made there. Any disruption in global trade hits all industries, not just the ones directly affected.

Dislocation of containers will add to further supply chain and shipping issues, as well as all time high fuel cost impacts.

Bryce Sprecher, SUMMA: Summa doesn’t handle projects in these regions so increased fuel prices will most likely be the flow down as a result of the situation in Russia/ Ukraine.

Michael Orloff, The Stroud Group: Eastern Europe has also been a great source for manufacturing over the past several years and there is anxiety that these sources may be impacted by the current situation.

Carl Long, PMI: We do buy product from western and eastern Europe on a regular basis. The situation in Russian and Ukraine will impact deliveries from Europe. They’re experiencing a major dispersion of people and the countries where we buy products in Europe will be affected by resettling and rebuilding of Ukraine and the supply chain in eastern Europe.

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Bryce Sprecher, SUMMA: We have seen a huge push with manufacturing domestically and hope to continue to see the same over the next 2-5 years. We are finding domestic manufacturing coming in line with overseas manufacturing and freight, which we feel provides a great value add to our projects.

Cary Schirmer, HPG: There’s an optimistic opportunity to manufacture in the US/Mexico but skilled labor is a limiting factor. It could be interesting to rejuvenate High Point- but we still have supply change and material surcharges.

Here’s a quick 2-year comparison on vanity pricing by location, for example: 2019: Overseas: Vanity $600 plus $200 Freight.

2022: Overseas: Vanity $800 plus $800 Freight.

2022: Domestic: Vanity $3200 less freight but still might need Chinese components.

Michael Orloff, The Stroud Group: We see the landscape for North American manufacturing growing very slowly and certainly not at the rate to match the need. Specifically, the main demands are for casegoods and lighting to be produced domestically. Unfortunately, domestic manufacturers are not able to handle the influx of production being requested. While we have many clients with budgets that could accommodate domestic production, not all designs are achievable in North American factories.

Carl Long, PMI: North American manufacturing is going to continue to grow and develop its capacity. Presently, the manufacturers in the hospitality space in the US are overwhelmed. They are having trouble sourcing their raw materials and sourcing labor, making their delivery times longer, costs higher and managing through those challenges very difficult. Over the next 2 to 5 years those challenges will create opportunities for new domestic manufacturers to emerge and grow their business to offer more options for North American manufacturing to supply the hospitality space.

Is there any other industry insight you feel will help our audience of developers/ designers/owners?

What’s your expectation of the future of renovations or new builds for big conference hotels vs boutique hotels in North America and internationally?

Carl Long, PMI: Renovations have been postponed consistently by big brands. We were talking to owners recently and they said the major brands have all deferred PIPs through the pandemic and for the next couple of years. This will create a huge wave of renovation work over the next several years.

Alan Benjamin, Benjamin West: Dig the well before you are thirsty. Hold your model room review a year in advance of the project. Also, utilize model vendors from two different places in the world to account for virus and political unrest considerations before placing the production orders.

Michael Orloff, The Stroud Group: Why are designers constantly trying to purchase from on-line companies? They have proven to be unreliable with price, durability and lead-times.

Carl Long, PMI: We have seen the effect of the Great Resignation in terms of talent in the hospitality design industry.

Owners, designers, purchasing agents, and vendors all need to work together to help train the next generation of leaders in our industry.

Jennifer, Beyer Brown: We all know that conference/business travel has not quite returned to 2019 levels, so I think those properties will continue to be less of the renovation projects we see for a little while. I will say that Boutique and Lifestyle hotels are both busy in the renovation market, and everyone is looking for the “experience” in travel. These hotels are looking to add those moments in their renovations. I will say that new construction projects in general are harder to lay an expectation on. The increases in construction costs and labor are impacting some decisions to not move forward yet with the build.

Simple answer – more bullish on the renovation projects right now.

PROCUREMENT INSIGHTS

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P R O D U C T S W E L O V E !

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EzSpec: The Amazon of Plumbing

As designers, transparency from vendors and sources is vital, especially when it comes to pricing. Over the years, many of us have encountered continued frustration when it comes to receiving accurate costs and information on plumbing fixtures.

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There’s been a confusing morass in this area, complicated by plumbing line reps, general contractors, and middlemen serving as gate keepers to the real cost of products. Add to that the difficulty of identifying and coordinating each required component and accessory for renovations or new construction builds and it’s a recipe for costly errors, revisions, RFI’s, punch list items, and go backs.

Attempting to present affordable products or construct an accurate budget in this environment has been far more challenging that it needs to be. This lack of transparency can undermine the credibility and reputation of specifiers at every level of the industry.

Imagine our excitement encountering EzSpec for the first time- a new way to source, specify, and purchase plumbing products for the hospitality industry. Whether you’re a designer, owner/developer, contractor, or procurement agent you can spec and purchase all the plumbing products you need directly from this comprehensive site- an exciting industry first.

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EzSpec’s creators asked the question, “What’s wrong with the plumbing specification industry?” and created the site’s functionality based on years of research. And they didn’t stop with the site launch, collecting beta testing feedback from players across the industry. Like us, the enthusiastic respondents concluded that their new specification platform is an absolute “game changer.”

Simply register your project on the site to access the clearly labeled, actual price for each item, with no mark-ups to worry about.

Need to meet hospitality brand standards?

No problem. Need to ask product or lead-time questions? They’ve got you. Want to ensure the items are shipped to the jobsite or project warehouse with clear side marks for each room or location? They can do that. And you don’t have to be a plumbing expert to put together your entire plumbing package and know precisely what it is going to cost.

We appreciate that we don’t need to be plumbing experts to use EzSpec. The live chat button is available 24 hours a day and connects you to the EzSpec team. They’ll check each item in your specs to ensure all necessary parts and pieces are included, saving time in each and every project phase. The site functionality allows you to produce a complete job quote proposal, submittal package, or product spec spreadsheet right from your EzSpec accountall at no charge, with no subscription.

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Of course, functionality is great, but what about the products themselves? While EzSpec isn’t a manufacturer, they’ve partnered with some of the top ones in the hospitality world, some of whom offer exclusive product lines through the site. EzSpec’s product offerings are comprehensive enough to nearly finish a complete bathroom suite design- minus only paint and flooring. And hundreds of their products are available in a wide range of 8-10 different finishes, for impressive flexibility.

And they certainly aren’t stopping or resting on their laurels. Their plumbing fixtures, bath accessories, solid surface, shower pans, glass doors, and bathroom furniture offerings are constantly growing. They’ll soon be adding new product categories like lighting solutions, hotel entry doors, barn and pocket doors, and even custom surfaces. Our favorite part?

EzSpec’s position and alliance is to us as the user, not to the manufacturers. This means they give unbiased guidance instead of recommendations for certain brands, goods, and services.

EzSpec provides access, transparency, and unparalleled service in an industry area where it’s desperately needed. Much like Amazon, the sky seems to be the limit for this ingenious platform, and we’re excited to continue to work with them and watch them grow.

PRODUCTS WE LOVE!

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Rejuvenating Buzz at the

Hospitality Design

Expo 2022 Seeing so many Hospitality industry colleagues was energizing at last month’s Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas. After a hiatus for so many due to COVID-19, everyone was excited to converge and connect with each other, and to experience exciting new products that have been developing in this transformative time.

One highlight of the expo was a fun and festive evening at Delilah, hosted by Emser Tile and featuring Todd Avery.

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The Future of Hospitality: Designing for Climate, Health and Equity Wednesday, April 27th | 3PM at HD Vegas Booth #4425

The Future of

Join Richloom Contract and a distinguished panel of brand Hospitality Designing leaders, designers and vendors, moderated by MindClick Thefor Future of Hospitality: Climate, and Equitywith real CEO, JoAnna Abrams, for Health a conversation Designing for Climate, Health andfilled Equity examples, tools and tips for success in a changing world.

Wednesday, April 27th | 3PM at HD Vegas Booth #4425

Join Richloom Contract and a distinguished panel of brand leaders, designers and vendors, moderated by MindClick CEO, JoAnna Abrams, for a conversation filled with real examples, tools and tips for success in a changing world.

JoAnna Abrams

George Scammell

Lauren Somers Pelusio

Founder and CEO, MindClick

Director, Interior Asset Management, Fleet Operations at Holland America Group

VP of Design, Richloom Contract

JoAnna Abrams

George Scammell

Lauren Somers Pelusio

Founder and CEO, MindClick

Director, Interior Asset Management, Fleet Operations at Holland America Group

VP of Design, Richloom Contract

Lorraine Francis AIA, LEED BD+C, CEO, CADIZ Collaboration Lorraine Francis AIA, LEED BD+C, CEO, CADIZ Collaboration

Bob Zaccaria Managing Director, Zaccaria & Associates Bob Zaccaria Managing Director, Zaccaria & Associates

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It was particularly edifying to participate in the panel discussion on The Future of Hospitality. In it, we delved into reasons why designing for climate, health, and equity are so crucial. These topics are interwoven by the same root causes in our society and correcting the imbalances at play is critical to improving and growing our future together.

Hospitality depends on tourism, which has a huge environmental impact as it makes up 5% of total global carbon emissions. 75% of tourism emissions come from transport, 21% from accommodation itself, and the remaining 4% from other tourism activities.

These figures help us identify where to place our design research in environmental, social, and governance criteria and how to best be in alignment with the funding decisions of financial markets.

It was a joy to reconnect, make new discoveries and alliances, and deepen our commitment to designing for the principles that matter most to us and our relationship with the Earth. We can’t wait to see what the industry dreams up next!

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REJUVENATING BUZZ AT THE HOSPITALITY DESIGN EXPO 2022

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We would love to hear from you!

Please reach us at : lorraine_francis@cadizcollaboration.com www.cadizcollaboration.com 3195 B Airport Loop Drive Costa Mesa CA 92626 949.667.2508 O 949.922.0591 M