Translating a City Into Carpet: Bentley and NANO’s New Orleans Collaboration

New Orleans, LA | Custom Carpet | 72,000+ Square Yards Installed | 67,200 Square Yards of Reclaimed Carpet
Architect/Designer: NANO | Project Requirements: Sustainability, Custom Solutions, High Traffic Durability

Project Profile: New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC) stands as a landmark of the city, covering 7.5 acres and more than half a mile of conference and event spaces. The center’s ongoing renovation honors its scale and impact while reflecting the rich cultural and environmental character of Louisiana.

Custom Design Process

Bentley partnered with the convention center team and NANO to revive all meeting spaces, corridors, gathering spaces and conference rooms with custom carpet that reflects Louisiana’s unique history and culture.

Common areas draw inspiration from southern Louisiana’s vibrant identity, from the iconic Mardi Gras color story and city grid to the organic, swamp-influenced tones of the northern wetlands. Meeting room carpet patterns are modeled after local wildlife including the state bird – the Pelican – while other spaces feature an interpretation of the urban city grid. Each theme pays tribute to the textures, patterns and stories that define the region.

“The Convention Center carpet collection began with New Orleans itself—its historic city grid, the Mississippi River, and the layered relationship between land and water. Working closely with Bentley’s custom design team, we translated that research into four distinct yet interconnected patterns that could perform at an extraordinary scale. Bentley’s ability to interpret complex design ideas into manufacturable, cohesive solutions was critical to creating a carpet system that both reflects the city’s identity and subtly guides visitors through more than 500,000 square feet of space.” — NANO

Sustainable Innovation

Sustainability has been a key pillar of the project from its conception. Bentley supported the reclamation of more than 382,820 pounds of carpet, replacing it with our carpet products that feature high recycled content, Red List free materials with HPDs and EPDs that contribute to NOENMCC’s second LEED GOLD certification – one of only two convention centers nationwide to accomplish that accolade. NOENMCC is the largest convention center project in the U.S. certified under LEED v4.1 Operations and Maintenance and the first convention center in the world to be awarded initial certification under LEED v4.1 O+M.