The Design that Educates Awards program has announced the 2019 winners in architecture, universal design and product design. The awards investigate the educational potential of architecture and design. Each year, a panel of judges selects the most outstanding projects that inspire learning. The objective of the awards is to recognize, showcase, and promote globally the best ideas and implementations of architecture and design that educate.
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Participants from more than 30 countries submitted the designs for the first edition of the Design that Educates Awards. The international panel of Judges selected the winning projects in 3 main categories of “Architectural Design”, “Product Design”, and “Universal Design”. In addition, a student project which received the highest ratings from the judges - was awarded the title of “Emerging Designers.” Solarlux representatives selected the laureates of the “Solarlux Choice.” The Awards Ceremony took place on March 28 and 29, 2019 in the Solarlux Campus in Melle (Lower Saxony, Germany) as part of the “Architecture in Foyer” conference hosted by Solarlux. The theme of the awards has been inspired by the research called ‘Educating Buildings’ (‘Bildende Bauten’) by Dr. Peter Kuczia. Design that Educates Awards are hosted by Laka and are possible thanks to the partnership with Solarlux GmbH.
Winners 2019 - Category of ‘Architectural Design’
Winner Architectural Design: Futurium Berlin
Design Richter Musikowski Architekten PartGmbB:Christoph Richter, Jan Musikowski, Sebastian Haufe, Elke Sparmann, Martina Huber, Nele Gessner, Daniel Eckert, Domenico Foti, Yvo Coseriu, Christine Darn, Elisabetta Vito, Johann Schulz-Greve, Phillip Rohé Picture credits Schnepp Renou, Dacian Groza
From authors' description
“The Futurium is a public building for Future-oriented exhibitions and events in the heart of Berlin. As an plus-energy building it achieves the BNB-Gold Status in sustainability. It is completely barrier-free. The building will serve as an open public place for presentations and will promote the dialogue between research, development and citizens. Future-oriented developments of national and international significance will be made visible through exhibitions and events. Embedded between the Spree Riverbend, the Berlin main station and the Charité Hospital, the Futurium creates its own sculptural identity in this ensemble. On the two main sides of the building two public spaces are defined by setting back the building. The entrances have cantilevering canopies of up to 18 meters generating sheltered public spaces. A pattern of dots covers the entire public space and lends it its own identity. The façade is made up of a reticular grid of shimmering diamond shaped panels. Under the constantly shifting lighting conditions they generate an ever-changing cloud image (...)”
Special Recognition Architectural Design: National Museum in Szczecin - Dialogue Centre Przełomy
Design KWK Promes Robert Konieczny; collaboration: Michał Lisiński, Piotr Tokarski, Adam Radzimski, Joanna Biedna, Magdalena Adamczak; competition entry: Robert Konieczny; collaboration: Dorota Żurek, Katarzyna Furgalińska, Aleksandra Stolecka; exhibition: Piotr Wysocki, Roman Kaczmarczyk, Michał Czasnojć, KWK Promes; Picture credits Juliusz Sokołowski, Olo Rutkowski, Jakub Certowicz, Jarosław Syrek
From authors' description:
“The building reconciles two conflicting traditions: the quarter and the square. This is how the urban hybrid was created - it encloses the space like a quarter, while maintaining values of open space. Expansion of the square creates foregrounds in front of the philharmonic hall and the church. The quarter is marked in opposite corners as the floor of the square is raised. One of them houses a museum, the other is a hill closing the urban interior and protecting it from the noise of the street. There is no clear boundary between architecture and urbanism (...)”
Winners 2019 - Category of ‘Product Design’
Winner Product Design: SIMS (Snap-Interlock Modular System) by Jin Young Song
Author's description:
“In 1953, Konrad Wachsmann imagined a single universal structural element which, industrially produced, could be used in building construction for every conceivable purpose. More than 60 years after his notion of the systematic modular coordination based on the industrial production, our building structure is still based on the Dom-ino system (1914) or steel based post and beam, on top of which we are adding our digital advancement and sustainable technology as functioning ornaments. Current smart fabrication techniques with advanced digital design tools allow us to revisit Wachsmann’s holistic approach for the unit-based ‘part to whole’ system. SIMS (Snap-Interlock Modular System) is a structural module prototype based on the elastic instability of steel, distributing forces through its unique stacked and interlocked mechanism. One module has 4 hooked legs in the top and bottom direction, when one module snaps into 4 legs from connecting 4 modules, the 5 modules are interlocked as one unit. Finite Element analysis shows the elastic nature of steel and confirms the structural integrity for the construction scale. The module can be cast or cut to assemble for mass production. The internal structure of the module can be controlled to increase the stiffness. The center connector can be added to allow specific angles to form a curved geometry. The snap-interlock stacking is relatively easy to do by human hands and two arch shape prototypes are built using 3d printed modules. The system can achieve limited geometric freedom. Despite further structural analysis and new interpretation necessary, this ‘part to whole’ system can be applied to the building structure, facade application as sub-structure, sheer wall, partition wall, and more.”
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Special Recognition Product Design: LET’S MAKE IT VISIBLE by Elena Khloptseva (project manager), Asya Dyro, Picture credits Yevgeny Loika
From authors' description:
“The models are dedicated to the topic of explaining the invisible world for children. Accumulation of knowledge is strongly connected to the way we get the new information. The more types of encoding (as a crucial first step to creating a new memory) we engage the more sufficient is the education process. Proceeding with the models’ implementation we also take into account that “reading” the pictures is a more comfortable type of reading for the children as well as Gamification is a way to make education more attractive. The educational kit we present is a puzzle which consists of the set of various elements which are made of different materials (plastic, wood, plexiglas), have vivid contrast colours, give various tactile perception experience of the surface. The child studying the topic of single-celled eukaryotes have to sort out the different elements which the cell consist of, to recognize the difference between them, to assemble the elements, to describe the model and so on. The main intention was to find an interesting, spectacular, aesthetic and guidelines-accurate way to explain to visually impaired pupils the basic topics of the school program (...)”
Winners 2019 - Category of ‘Universal Design’
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Winner Universal Design: Smog Free Project by Studio Roosegaarde; Picture credits Studio Roosegaarde, Pim Hendriksen, Derrick Wang, Willem de Kam
From authors' description:
“SMOG FREE PROJECT is a series of urban innovations to reduce pollution and provide an inspirational experience of a clean future. The SMOG FREE PROJECT aims to create an immediate impact on a local scale and activate new solutions towards smog-free cities. SMOG FREE TOWER, SMOG FREE RING, and SMOG FREE BICYCLE provide a local solution of clean air in public spaces. Along with governments, NGOs, pro-bicycle campaigns and the clean-tech industry, people can work together to make a whole city smog free. Recent SMOG FREE PROJECTS have been launched all over the world, along with initiatives for smog-free workshops for students to attend (...)”
Special Recognition Universal Design: Ecocapsule by Design Tomas Zacek, Sona Pohlova, Katarina Cabakova, Matej Pospisil, Milan Stukovsky, Jakub Zlatnansky, Miroslav Klabnik, Eduard Pohl, Tomas Zacek sr., Dusana Lehotova, Peter Beljak, Bohuslav Pisar, Matej Gyarfas, Patricia Cudzisova; Picture credits Ecocapsule Holding
From authors' description:
“Established in 2015, the Slovak company Ecocapsule designs and produces a microhome of the same name. Ecocapsule is a mobile, selfsustainable, smart micro-unit, that utilises solar and wind energy. It allows people to live in remote places out of reach of infrastructure, while retaining a high level of living comfort. It can be used as a cottage, pop-up hotel, caravan, houseboat, research station etc. Ecocapsule is powered by a dual system of energy production, which - in connection with high-capacity batteries - ensures energetic selfsufficiency even in the case of a temporary lack of sources. Ecocapsule also has an electric plug, enabling to charge the batteries from an external electric source if needed.”
Special Recognition Universal Design: The Airship Series: Sensorial Learning Spaces
Design Breathe Earth Collective; Karlheinz Boiger, Lisa Maria Enzenhofer, Andreas Goritschnig, Markus Jeschaunig, Bernhard König; Picture credits: 01:”Airship.02” – Fountain of Air (2018), Milan, IT; image credit: © ÖsterreichWerbung MichaelStabentheiner;
From authors' description:
“The successful designed Austrian pavilion in the context of EXPO 2015 in Milan, was the team’s starting point to work on one of the most important social, environmental and technological challenges of our time: air and climate. As follow-up projects a series of climate installations called “Airships”, that prototypically act as hybrids between “nature” and “technology”. In public spaces of different European cities, such as Rome, Milan (IT), Bordeaux (FR), Graz and Tulln (AT), during the summer time these climate positive and cooling micro-architectures involved visitors in a sensual learning process to reflect on climate, city and personal behaviour in the context of climate change (...)”
Winners 2019 - Emerging Designers
Winner Emerging Designer, Honorable Mention Product Design: SOAR – VR Kit for Education by Jaewan Choi
Author's description:
“Digital textbooks have been supplied in many countries, and classes run with Tablet PC PCs. Since the education using AR and VR enables students to have more stereoscopic and livelier experiences with different spaces, its effects and potentials have been proven, so that it has been included as contents in the digital textbooks. And yet, the fact that you should have too many products when you would like to use VR devices limits the actual distribution and utilization. (When you use VR contents, you should mount a mobile device (mobile phone) containing another CPU in addition to the Tablet PC already supplied in order to use VR, and since an HMD equipped with a display is specialized in games, it has a problem that it is heavy and voluminous to students.) Soar is a VR kit for education, which may produce synergy in the existing environments where Tablet PCs have been supplied. Thanks to the method of connection to a Tablet PC, the number of necessary devices decreased from five to one. It is a kit type product which can be put on a desk in the classroom. It was designed compactly in the shape and size suitable for students’ body. The VR headset is easy to see in the form of a magnifying glass, designed to be easy to peel off.”
Winners 2019 - Solarlux Choice
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Winner Solarlux Choice, Finalist Universal Design: The Alternative Way to Educate by Design IntuyLab; Jose Cepero, Hannah Klug, Walter Soto, Giancarlo Pava; collaboration: IRGE Stuttgart university, Alto Peru community, Association Project Alto Peru, Sto-Stiftung; Picture credits IntuyLab
From authors' description:
“Architecture schools are responsible for preparing students for new challenges. Unfortunately, this does not happen always. We are interested in designing educational processes where academia and society can relate and learn together. Our projects have led us to principles that define our philosophy. The workshop “Lima 3.0” serves us to explain these ideas (...)”
Jury 2019
Maria Aiolova (designer, educator, leader of Arup University, cofounder of Terreform ONE)
Prof. Shingo Ando (designer, educator, professor at Kyoto Arts and Crafts University)
Dominic Harris (architect, artist, founder and creative director of Cinimod Studio)
Matthias Hollwich (architect, AIA, principal at Hollwich Kushner, cofounder of Architizer.com)
Prof. Barbara Holzer (architect, lecturer, cofounder and director of Holzer Kobler Architekturen)
Dr. Peter Kuczia (architect, Kuczia Architects, initiator of the Design that Educates Awards)
Prof. Carlo Ratti (architect, founding partner at Carlo Ratti Associati, director at MIT SCL)
Amandus Samsøe Sattler (architect, founding partner at Allmann Sattler Wappner Architekten)
Sarang Sheth (industrial designer, content writer and editor-in-chief at YankoDesign.com)
Prof. Tobias Wallisser (architect, cofounder of LAVA Laboratory for Visionary Architecture)
Aidin Ardjomandi (industrial designer, director at Arena Design Studio)
Paul Clemens Bart (architect, designer, cofounder of BART//BRATKE)
Marvin Bratke (architect, BART//BRATKE, visiting professor at Muthesius Academy of Arts)
Prof. Masayo Ave (industrial designer, educator, founder of MasayoAve creation)
About organizers
Laka is an international network started in 2015 with a strong curiosity about how new technologies can positively transform our relationships with nature, architecture, and cities. Through a comprehensive strategy and with the support of our Partners, we develop projects and programs that underline the crucial role of architecture and technology in the process of positive social development. www.lakareacts.com www.lakaperspectives.com www.designeducates.com.
Solarlux (the strategic partner of the Design that Educates Awards and host of ‘Architecture in Foyer’) is a German manufacturer of Bi-folding Glass Doors, Wintergardens and Façade solutions. The Melle company, its individual glazing solutions and innovative design possibilities are a worldwide success. Solarlux wants to convince the world of the merits of greater transparency, lightness and vitality, and influence architecture the world over with its exclusive glazing solutions. https://www.solarlux.com/com/index.cfm
