Starnet® Announces Winners of the 2026 Starnet Design Awards

28 Years of Celebrating the Art Beneath Our Feet

COLUMBUS , OH, UNITED STATES, May 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- For 28 years, the Starnet Design Awards have posed the same essential question: what happens when the floor stops being a background and becomes the story? This year’s competition answered, and the work on display made a strong case.

Starnet^® Commercial Flooring, the world’s largest network of full-service commercial flooring contractors, is proud to announce the winners of the 2026 Starnet Design Awards. Across eight categories, this year’s submissions pushed the limits of creativity, technical precision, and narrative-driven design, showing what’s possible when flooring is treated as a design decision, not an afterthought.

The competition also includes the Rob Starr People’s Choice Award, a peer-voted honor that gives Starnet Members and their Preferred Vendor Partners the opportunity to recognize fellow contractors whose work best embodies outstanding craftsmanship and design. Named for Starnet’s beloved former Director of Marketing and Member Services, the award carries forward Rob’s deep belief in the people and relationships at the heart of this industry.

Projects were evaluated by a distinguished panel of industry leaders in flooring, architecture, and interior design, and judged on innovation, craftsmanship, and their overall contribution to the built environment. Gold category winners advanced to consideration for the Grand Prize, awarded to the single most outstanding flooring project of the year. All gold, silver, and bronze honorees were celebrated at the Starnet Design Awards Gala on April 24, 2026.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER
F1 Arcade Philadelphia Awarded 2026 Grand Prize
Walk into F1 Arcade Philadelphia, and the floor tells you exactly where you are and where you’re going. In a 19,200-square-foot retail shell that once held nothing, James Floor Covering orchestrated a custom installation that now reflects the energy of a Formula 1 race. Racing bays, bar zones, dining areas, and social spaces each have their own visual identity, defined entirely through precise cuts, bold pattern transitions, and performance materials, without a single physical barrier in sight.

The result is architecture you experience from the ground up. Pavement-style markings and geometric abstraction give guests instant spatial orientation. Sharp transitions carry the energy of a pit lane. And the materials, durable and dynamic, built for heavy foot traffic under dramatic lighting, carry the brand’s identity as convincingly as anything else in the room.

“The arcade stands out as number one. It’s fun and inviting. You know where you are in the space because of the high concept of the pavement markings throughout and the geometric patterns that make it more abstract.”
~ Brent Otsuka, Fentress Studios, a Populous Company

“This project features a successful push-pull between pattern and negative space. The unique quality of the floor adds richness to the project’s design story.”
~ Caleb Salomons, HOK

“Each area has its own identity, just like its own purpose. The flooring doesn’t just fit the space, it defines it.”
~ Liz Sims, Michael Graves

• Location: Philadelphia, PA
• Starnet Member: James Floor Covering
• Architect: GMA Architects
• Starnet Preferred Vendors: ARDEX, Daltile, Mapei, Mohawk Group, Pliteq, TEC Specialty Products, Tarkett, Uzin Utz North America

Additional Category Winners Include:

• CORPORATE GOLD: Consolidated Flooring; Confidential Financial Firm Headquarters
• EDUCATION GOLD: Antex Western; École Sage Creek Bonavista
• HOSPITALITY & PUBLIC SPACES GOLD: James Floor Covering; F1 Arcade Philadelphia
• HEALTHCARE GOLD: M. Frank Higgins & Co., Inc.; Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Tower
• UNIQUE INSTALLATION GOLD: Capital Carpet & Flooring Specialists; Concord Middle School
• MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS GOLD: H.J. Martin & Son, Inc.; The Promenade
• CANADIAN PROJECT OF THE YEAR GOLD: Antex Western; École Sage Creek Bonavista
• SINGLE-SOURCE INTERIOR CONTRACTOR GOLD: Ruggieri Brothers; Baldwin Elementary School
• ROB STARR PEOPLE’S CHOICE GOLD: Capital Carpet & Flooring Specialists; Concord Middle School

MEET THE 2026 JUDGING PANEL

This year’s judges comprised a select group of industry professionals in architecture and design, who brought their exceptional talent and expertise to the panel. 

Brent Otsuka, NCIDQ, IIDA
Associate Principal | Interior Design Manager, Fentress Studios, a Populous Company

Caleb Salomons, AAA LID, NCIDQ, IDA
Director of Design | Interiors, HOK

Liz Sims, IIDA, RID
Director of Interior Design, Michael Graves

David Gross
Executive Director, INSTALL — Honorary Judge, Unique Installation

Twenty-six awards were presented across eight categories during the annual awards ceremony on Friday, April 24th, recognizing the best in commercial flooring design and installation throughout the United States and Canada. Visit the Starnet Design Awards website at designawards.starnetflooring.com to see all of this year's outstanding winning projects.

About Starnet Commercial Flooring

Starnet Commercial Flooring Partnership is the world’s largest network of full-service independent flooring contractors. Comprised of more than 170 locally owned member firms operating in nearly 400 locations across the United States and Canada, Starnet is the single most influential force in the contract flooring industry. With more than $4 billion in annual sales, Starnet Members and Preferred Vendor Partners collaborate to deliver high-performance, innovative flooring solutions across healthcare, education, corporate, and hospitality sectors.

For 28 years, Starnet has stood behind a simple idea: that flooring is not a background detail, but a defining part of how spaces are experienced.

For more information, visit starnetflooring.com.

Tanner McHugh
Starnet Commercial Flooring Partnership
email us here

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