August 20 marked the end of the first stage of the international Tubądzin Design Awards competition in the Future NOW category. This category, which joined the already existing ones - Young Power, Everyday Design and Unlimited Architecture - is intended as a response to the post-pandemic reality and challenges that architecture is currently facing.
Tubądzin Design Awards
The Tubądzin Design Awards competition has brought together an international community of architects, designers and art students, who through the competition have the opportunity to present projects that combine not only technical knowledge with design, but also take into account factors such as the well-being of the individual in an ever-changing world and accelerating technology. For Ceramika Tubądzin, the organizer of the competition, it is very important that the projects include not only the needs of people, but also the surrounding nature, ecology, addressing environmental issues. We very much hope that the third edition of the competition will once again select winners who are sensitive not only to the current needs of their clients, but also to those of future generations," says Ewa Kryszkiewicz, Development and Cooperation with Architects Manager.
In this year's edition, 554 projects were submitted to the organizers, and representatives from 77 countries joined the TDA community. The submitted works are judged by: Boris Kudlička, set designer, interior and exhibition designer, Malgorzata Szczepanska, set designer, interior and exhibition designer, Oksana Shumelda, architect, designer, co-founder and creative supervisor of the O.M.Shumelda studio, Martin Duplantier, architect, urban designer, founder of Martin Duplantier Architects SAS, and Tomasz Smus, architect of the Tubadzin Group.
Future NOW
This year the competition was expanded to include a new category, Future NOW, which challenges architects, designers and design students to design solutions for the future that is happening before our eyes. The competition was so popular that the organizers decided to announce its next stage. Details can be found here.
The pandemic situation, in which everyone was immobilized at home for several weeks, caused spaces intended for everyday private life to take on entirely new functions. Forced remote work forced a new arrangement of the home zone, compromises between its users, and the need to take care of needs that previously did not appear in personal space - comfort at work, silence, having a place for video conferencing, etc. Office and public spaces are also no longer performing their functions in the way we were used to. Not only are public spaces changing their appearance, but architects themselves are no longer merely designers of buildings, landscapes or objects. In their work, they must take into account the future needs of self-sufficient cities and the constant changeability of reality, the competition organizers write.
The competition jury was looking for design solutions for spaces that would reflect mobility between work and private life, those that would perform multiple functions simultaneously and have the ability to adapt quickly to the changing needs of their users.
winners of the 1st stage of the competition
1st prize, Aquamodul, proj.: Van Long Le
© Van Long Le
Thefirst prize went to a Vietnamese architect, Van Long Le, who, in view of the threat to the planet from human activity, and at the same time in view of Vietnam's great tourism potential, created "Aquamodul" -located at sea, self-sufficient in energy, mobile housing modules. The modules connect in many possible ways to form a sea village, which allows to meet the project author's objectives, such as regulating the restocking of the area, developing water culture and promoting tourism. The island-modules are to remain in a non-invasive relationship with the islands created by nature.
2nd prize, "Private space", proj.: Mykola Molhan
© Mykola Molhan
Second place went to Mykola Mol hanfrom Ukraine, who proposed the design of the house "Private Space." The designer included a metaphor for the changing reality, the unpredictability of problems, the speed of movement and exchange of information. Although, as the organizers write, the project at first glance is simply a well-designed, solid residential building with classic shapes, when you change your perspective a bit - it surprises you. On each side it is geometrically different, one of the walls is completely glazed, others are subject to gradients that add dynamism to the design.
3rd Prize, "Braking Walls, Building Bridges," proj.: Yi Yang Chai
© Yi Yang Chai
Thethird prize was awarded to Yi Yang Chai from Malaysia, whose design "Braking Walls, Building Bridges" was inspired by Isaac Newton's quote: "we build too many walls, but not enough bridges." The competing project is a center for active seniors, which is built around the idea of openness and connecting: generations, nature with technology, different social groups and leisure with education. The body of the center is not closed, it connects the residents of the community through footbridges, paths, terraces, as well as irregular modular construction and glazing. Seniors are not alienated in the project, but integrated, included in the life of the community. The project, the organizers write, involves more than creating an architectural proposal - behind it is the idea of creating attitudes of openness, cultivating a culture of lifelong learning and revitalizing relations between people from different backgrounds and age groups.
