For the third year, the Retail Design Institute (RDI) organized their annual Iron Design Challenge where teams of design students, each with a mentor from a leading design firm and retailer compete to create astonishing retail experiences for a secret client they only learn about on the night of the event.

This year’s challenge was in support of the Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI), a leading professional provider in New York City of social support and programming for LGBTQ youth.

Hosted at JPMA’s New York showroom, the five design teams were tasked to design a booth that embodied the values and mission of HMI in a fun and exciting way. Michael and Roe Palermo of Lord & Taylor, mentored “Team Park Slope” where within 1 hour, teams developed their design concepts.

The teams included “Team Williamsburg,” lead by Alicia Proctor, Estee Lauder and Ian Tornquist, Highland Associates; “Team Park Slope,” which included Roe Palermo of Lord & Taylor and Michael Neumann of MNA; “Team Bushwick,” with Richard Bennett-Fosdick of Saks Fifth Avenue and Germana Gioglio of FRCH; “Team Crown Heights” comprising Roya Sullivan of Macy’s and Anthony Simon of Interior Architects; and “Team Bay Ridge,” which featured Sal Lenzo of Bergdorf Goodman and Nikki Francisco of Sargenti Architects.

All design teams presented their concepts to a jury of judges that included Robert Verdi, leading lifestyle expert, celebrity stylist and television personality; Robert Smith, global chief merchandising officer of Haddad Brands; Darra Gordon, COO of HMI; Megan Gundrum, director, store planning and design, Hudson Bay Company; and Ray Ehscheid, president of RDI’s New York chapter.

The winning pop-up booth design will go on display during the Brooklyn Flea, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, where all proceeds from both the Iron Design Challenge and the Brooklyn Flea going to HMI.