The New Jersey Performing Arts Center [NJPAC] set out to transform their entire common-area environment, spanning five floors of high-traffic gathering and function spaces. Although they were initially committed to using broadloom, the food-and-beverage intensity of the venue made it clear that a modular solution would better meet their long-term functional needs.
What they didn’t realize was just how far carpet tile design had come. To help them see the possibilities, we partnered with Bentley and organized visits to several standout installations throughout Newark. Those firsthand examples demonstrated that carpet tile could achieve the elevated, seamless aesthetic they believed only broadloom could provide—while delivering the durability, serviceability, and flexibility of a modular product.
Bentley’s Design Vision Lab played a crucial role in bringing NJPAC’s creative vision to life, producing multiple iterations of the dramatic inset motifs featured on the first floor—the visual centerpiece of the project.
The Flooring Foundation installation team executed all field-cut insets with precision craftsmanship, ensuring that these design elements became the defining signature of the newly reimagined space.
Nancy Thiel, founder and principal of Thiel Architecture + Design, is a licensed architect and an interior designer. With 40+ years’ experience working with luminaries in the architecture world, including Michael Graves, Robert A.M. Stern, and Rockwell Group, where she served as a studio leader, Thiel’s extensive portfolio includes single-family homes and multi-story residences, hotels, restaurants, retail, fitness clubs, offices, theaters, schools and shopping centers. She is a member of the AIA, holds NCARB certification and is a LEED accredited professional. Prior to her career in architecture, Thiel was a dancer and choreographer.
Thiel Architecture + Design is an award-winning multi-disciplinary architecture, interior design, planning, and product design firm with offices in CT and NY. The firm’s work focuses on high-end residential design as well as hospitality, contract, and retail projects. Thiel Architecture + Design’s work has been featured in Interior Design, Architype, New York and Connecticut Cottages and Gardens, Connecticut Magazine, Archello, and Fast Company magazines. In 2022, the firm received a Connecticut AIA Excellence award for Interior Architecture. Thiel earned a BA from Penn State University and her Master of Architecture degree from Syracuse University.
