The prestigious 2009 IIDA Leadership Award of Excellence recognizes outstanding contributions to the profession of interior design. Pettipas has more than two decades of interior design experience in the corporate, hospitality, and retail sectors. He is currently senior vice president and regional practice leader – Western Canada, for HOK.
“Joe is a true leader in the interior design community. He continuously goes above and beyond, returning year after year, making positive contributions not only to ARIDO but to other organizations within the design profession. Joe is not afraid to challenge old ways of thinking and to forge new ways of doing things. I can’t think of a more appropriate honour for him than this,” says Susan Wiggins, executive director of ARIDO.
Pettipas has taught at Ryerson University’s School of Interior Design where he specialized in the study of colour and colour psychology. As an interior designer, Pettipas has completed large-scale projects in the United Arab Emirates, Doha, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. These projects include indoor entertainment and shopping complexes, a five-star hotel addition to an existing shopping mall, and the ground work for a new city of 150,000 inhabitants. AT HOK, he is chiefly responsible for the ongoing relationship between the aesthetics of design and the requirements of producing successful projects on target, on time and on budget.