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Continuing Education Use the following learning objectives to focus your study while reading this month’s ARCHITECTURAL RECORD / AIA Continuing Education article. Learning Objective: After reading this article, you will be able to: 1. Be familiar with the trends in hard surface flooring materials. 2. Have a better sense of the various applications for hard surface flooring. 3. Understand how flooring materials can impact the client’s cost of ownership.

Where are you right now? In your home, the office, a restaurant having lunch? How did you get there? What did you see along the way?

You might have noticed the new trees in the park that outline the fountain. Maybe you enjoyed the way your office windows bring light into the entire room as you walked to your desk. Or maybe you were pulled into the restaurant by its walls that are reminiscent of a café you enjoyed while in Paris. Did you notice the tile underfoot as you walked into the restaurant? Or the stained concrete in your office atrium?

Each day when we’re stepping up, putting our best foot forward and even toeing the line, we expect to be supported at every stride. But how often do you look down, regard and ponder what’s underneath you? And how often does the flooring you chose take center stage in your design?

All too often flooring takes an understudy role to those features that make people look up in awe. In many projects flooring is the first budget cropped, with teams opting to minimize initial building costs by using flooring materials that ultimately maximize the client’s long-term cost of ownership. But today’s hard surface floors are drawing eyes downward with new materials, textures and colors that not only demand admiration, but also provide enduring value for a variety of applications.