THE American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), the leading international trade association for the American hardwood industry, has invited architects and designers to nominate their projects for the prestigious ‘Commercial Interior Design Awards 2012’ later this month.

For the second year in a row, AHEC is sponsoring the ‘CID Awards’ where a new category – ‘Outstanding use of American Hardwoods in a Project’ – was created last year. AHEC’s involvement as the Gold sponsor is part of its extensive outreach campaign championing the usage of American hardwoods amongst the region’s leading architectural and design firms and is reflective of its commitment to educate specifiers and to increase awareness of the potential applications offered by American hardwoods.

The CID Awards will be held this month  (September 25) at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai and will pay tribute to the projects, interior design firms and designers making their mark on the region’s interior design sector. Last year, the new library at the Zayed University campus in Abu Dhabi grabbed top honours, winning the award for Outstanding use of American Hardwoods in a project, from amongst a list of contenders including the Pavilion Downtown Dubai, M’s Restaurant, and Hakkasan Abu Dhabi. The new library was part of the overall Dh3-billion ($816.9 million) project designed by Hadi Teherani, which included 28 new buildings in the new campus at Khalifa City.

“The new Zayed University Campus library is exemplary in terms of its design and its use of American hardwood,” said Roderick Wiles, AHEC director for Africa, Middle East, India and Oceania. “We have been extremely pleased with this project from the moment it started to take shape, till the moment it won the award.”