By Louis Iannaco
NEW YORK—The all-new Milliken Contract New York showroom debuted recently as a showpiece of sustainable design amidst wrap-around views of city landmarks.

Located on the 26th floor at 875 Avenue of the Americas, the showroom was designed to couple a working space with a memorable experience.

Transparent interior walls keep the space open to spectacular views of the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Times Square, allowing natural light to enhance nearly every aspect of the showroom. “We wanted it to be the physical embodiment of our brand,” said Kaye Gosline, creative director for Milliken’s floor covering division. “It’s innovative, yet respectful, with strong design that never gets in the way of doing the right thing for the planet and our customers.” The new showroom, designed by Q studio, has already been registered for LEED 2.0 certification.

“For the past couple years, Milliken has been working really hard to strengthen the product line by broadening the depth of products we offer,” she said. “We wanted to make a statement to the A&D community in New York that we’re committed to this marketplace, and that Milliken ‘gets it’ . That’s the main message. We understand you have to have product, and you have to have people who understand the marketplace and know the needs of the designer. This space is about branding and presenting Milliken as a leader in design, innovation and sustainability.”

Catherine Severson of Q studio added, “To honor Milliken’s design history, we brought over some of the elements of the original Milliken offices on 6th Avenue, including some of the original Florence Knoll pieces from the ’50s, integrating them into a more contemporary space.”

Visitors enter the space on a custom carpet “runway” of text and imagery illustrating the company’s capabilities in color, design and texture. A transparent wall follows the runway, illuminated in Milliken’s signature yellow accent color.

Furniture groupings and carpet insets define areas for the different Milliken floor covering businesses—contract, residential and hospitality—yet remain open for an unobstructed flow. According to John Seegers of Q studio, “Curved forms were integrated into the design to accentuate the flow of your eye from product to product and space to space. Our design creates curves to avoid pinch points. For example, the curved reflective ceiling plane reflects and emphasizes the carpet display, drawing you to it.”

LEED criteria drove every decision, from site selection to showroom design to the selection of the Q studio design team, still fresh from their design for Milliken’s Chicago showroom, which won NeoCon 2007 Best of Show for showroom design and achieved LEED-CI gold certification.

Gosline emphasized the showroom’s statement for sustainability goes beyond cosmetic, characterizing Milliken’s environmental stewardship as a 360-degree perspective on every decision. “We would have done what we did regardless of LEED. We’ve been quietly doing the right thing for years.”

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