The winners of the Forum AID Awards 2009
They floored the jury of the Forum AID Awards 2009
Futuristic Alpine cabins in a Danish suburb. Graphics from floor to ceiling in Hong Kong. An unusual sheet metal stool. And a Norwegian ray of sunshine that plays with your psyche under the table. Tonight, February 3, the winners of the Forum AID Awards 2009 were revealed. The Nordic region’s most innovative architecture, interiors and design were celebrated by hundreds of guests at the distinguished Rival in Stockholm. Tonight’s prize ceremony and party saw the Nordic architecture and design elite mingle with the year’s stars. The competition was organised by Forum AID Magazine for the eighth year in a row.
And the winners are...
Architecture: Mountain Dwellings by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group. Denmark. Client: Høpfner A/S and Danish Oil Company A/S
Interiors: Cristal Bar by Katrin Olina Petursdóttir. Iceland. Client: Zenses
Design: Plopp by Oskar Zieta for Hay. Denmark.
Best Student Work: Subconscious Effect of Daylight by Daniel Rybakken. Norway.
The jury’s justifications
Architecture
Mountain Dwellings by BIG. Client: Høpfner A/S and Danish Oil Company A/S.
Mountain Dwellings by BIG is a bold, ambitious and seemingly illogical building that on closer inspection is highly rational, as well as being a lot of fun. Situated on an unpromising suburban site, the client’s demand for both car parking and housing has been met by placing the residential element on top of the parking. The resulting bulk has been tamed by arranging the flats as if they are Alpine cabins on a hillside, each featuring a generous and well-screened terrace. With their mountain analogy BIG have successfully reduced a complex brief to something resembling an expert logotype – colourful, witty and unforgettable.
Interiors
Cristal Bar by Katrin Olina Petursdottir. Client: Zenses.
Of all the interiors shortlisted in this category, Katrin Olina’s Cristal Bar was the one the jury felt they would most like to experience. With every available surface covered with Olina’s graphic art, the patterns become more than just decoration and create a dream-like, immersive environment. It is a simple idea to make a two-dimensional pattern the dominant design feature of a three-dimensional space, but the result is striking.
Design
Plopp by Oskar Zieta. Client: Hay.
Plopp may look like a piece of contemporary art, but the process that created it is good, old-fashioned industrial design. The designers have identified an interesting new manufacturing technique that involves forming sheet steel with compressed air, and applied it to an everyday item of furniture, creating a striking new form in the process. This process contrasts strongly with that adopted by too many designers these days, who start with aesthetics and worry about technique later, often with unfortunate results. By combining technical and aesthetic innovation, the jury felt Plopp was highly deserving of this award.
Best Student Work
Subconscious Effect of Daylight by Daniel Rybakken
Daniel Rybakken’s poetic work is a functional piece of furniture with a conceptual twist –light is projected from beneath the table to replicate the effect of sunlight slanting through a window. It is a concept that appeals to anyone who has experienced the oppression of living or working in a windowless room, or who has felt starved of light in the depths of winter. By affecting the user psychologically, rather than through function or form, Subconscious Effect of Daylight hints at a whole new potential area of research for designers.
Star-packed jury
The jury consisted of Chairman Marcus Fairs (the man behind Icon and Dezeen), Manuelle Gautrand (one of France's leading architects), Sean Griffiths (one of the founders of British FAT Architecture) and Dirk Wynants (designer and "big boss" at Belgian Extremis).
For more information about the jury click here.
Impressive films from Autodesk
This year’s main Forum AID Awards partner, Autodesk, manufactures 2D and 3D design software. They created the animated 3D visualisations that were shown during the prize ceremony. The films were made using the visualisation program Autodesk 3Ds Max.
Partners
Main partner for the Forum AID Awards 2009 is Autodesk. Partner for the A category is Setra Group, for the I category EFG, European Furniture Group and for the D category Philips. Partners: Nordic Light Hotel, Åkessons Tryckeri an Philipson & Söderberg. Forum AID thanks all our partners.
Supplement about Forum AID Awards 2009
Do you want to read about the three nominees in each category, the winners, the 58 finalists and the jury? Then order a copy of the supplement about the awards by sending an e-mail to info@forumaid.com with your name and address.
High resolution images of the winning entries as well as jury are available at www.forumaid.com/eng/press
