The Winner of the 3rd CAESARSTONE DESIGN AWARD COMPETITION
The final set of entries showcased in CaesarStone’s 3rd Design Award unearthed the dynamic and innovators designers of South Africa’s design future. Students excelled in honing their acquired design skills to create an ICON to Earths Wellbeing. CaesarStone, leading quartz surface pioneers, announced the winner of the competition on 19th August 2010 at The Venue in Melrose Arch.
A trophy, Designed by Darren Bester of IT IS DESIGN, manufactured from CaesarStone, was presented to the winner, Van Wyk Oosthuizen, student from the University of The Free States Department of Architecture. Winning lecturer is Madelein Markram. The winner and the lecturer of the winning student will be winging their way to Israel, home of CaesarStone. The prize, handsomely valued at R50,000.00 each, includes airfare, accommodation and spending money.
A merit award of R5000.00 was the prize for the second prize winner. This year the merit award winner was a joint entry, the winners being, Antje Pluntke & Chloe Johnson from The Design Time School of Interior Design. The lecturer of these students is Katherine Mann.
The trophy was manufactured by Afrigran of Durban, master fabricators of CaesarStone.
The brief for ICON TO THE EARTH’S WELLBEING was conceptualized by Juri Abbott of Urban Edge Architects. As the original inventor and first global company to use natural quartz, CaesarStone’s brief had to reflect the perfect harmony between sustainability and style. In addition it stimulated a conscious response towards the global initiative of environmental responsibility. In the brief, students were challenged to engage in an exacting process that both assimilates and activates the site. The brief did not dictate maximum or minimal usage of the CaesarStone product but asked students to create spatial and visual solutions by breaking preconceptions. The entries received from tertiary design institutions surpassed the judges’ expectations and showcased true design talent.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
JANINA MASOJADA
COMMENTS ON THE MERIT AWARD:
This scheme translates the requirement of an icon in a very successful way. It takes the icon from the world globe and presents it as a ball being both vulnerable and beautiful. It positions the ball in a site in a very precarious position, the end of a truncated freeway, balancing as the earth, waiting for the time when it falls or manages to survive. That is the conceptual strength of this particular scheme. It’s beautiful, it’s wondrous, it’s full of light and hope but we’re in a precarious position. So that is its response to the brief. One of the things that caused a lot of debate about this scheme was how it successfully translated into something which could be a global icon and with that is how this iconic form, a beautiful glowing object could take a translation both in scale from being a tiny thing shown as a keyring to being something vast and floating down a river located in any site or context any place in any culture. So very successfully as a global icon particularly in this area where media translates things successfully but where consumerism so easily takes a form and turns it into a “thing”. So the beautiful scheme that is made up as a beautiful CaesarStone ball which has a vast scale can be potentially filling land dumps as things get discarded from generation to generation. The translation of the original icon into the memorabilia could happen in a format which is also sensitive to sustainability and issues that relate to the brief is very well communicated and very legible. It was thought across a range of cultures and social stratas that the scheme could be translated and very legibly understood.
SONJA PETRUS SPAMER
OF DESIGN SPACE AFRICA COMMENTS ON THE WINNING ENTRY:
What’s incredible about this scheme is that it presents a strong, clear idea in a built form. This devastation is what we’re heading for as a piece of architecture. So when you look at this scheme you’ll see a lot of pieces of architecture that look like burnt out trees in a park-like setting. What’s fantastic about this scheme is that it addresses the issue at so many levels. It produces a built form that tells people constantly what the issue is, which is devastation. It also provides us with a space where we can start to produce an answer - that space is a space either play, to have theatre or to address crowds or a place to celebrate when we come up with answers. The integration is presenting the problem and creating a space where people come together. To think of an answer is really the magic of this scheme. The other incredible side of this scheme is the material form of the project: made from concrete, steel and CaesarStone. CaesarStone is often thought of to make a pretty bathroom or kitchen so it has a very light identity or character. But in this instance CaesarStone is used to produce something quite thought provoking. That is a really big step for CaesarStone as a material. It also portrays CaesarStone as being a worthy component as a part of a building.
