Ideas entered for the competition are no-longer restricted to avant-garde concepts but show more and more marketable products
„Taşa Hayat Ver” (Give Stone a Life) was the title of the Turkish Trade Organization’s (IMIB) Design-Competition 2017 sponsored in part by the Ministry of Finance. Ali Kahyaoğlu, the Organization’s then President, had voiced criticism aimed at avant-garde entries, in the years before. Now marketable household items have become the center of focus.
As a result, many inconspicuous items, not seen in design competitions abroad, competed for best prize.
But these are the items for which there is a market, as some online portals have proven.
The total number of entries was constant as compared to the previous year. Some 518 drafts were submitted, of which 493 were accepted. 185 student projects (compared to 2016: 248) and 308 professionals (2016: 258) competed for the prizes.
Surprisingly, a total of 58 centers of higher education sent their best and brightest making up for almost the entire landscape of university design centers in Turkey. Professionals are those who have already completed studies of higher education or have been active as stonemasons for seven years or more.
As was the case last year, prizes were lavishly endowed with a purse of 15,000 Turkish Lira (US-$ 7,600; € 7,200) to 7,500 Turkish Lira (US-$ 1,900; € 1,800), or for student entries 10,000 to 2,500 Turkish Lira. Students also received multiple honorable mentions, for which a purse of 1,000 Turkish Lira was awarded.
Prizes were grouped into four categories, i.e.: decorative items including décor, furniture, household items and more, hotel lobby and shopping mall including Turkish baths and bathrooms, and, cladding for floors and walls.
We show the award-winning ideas. A complete listing of all entries can be seen in Turkish on the webpage. There, professional entries top the page with two brochures followed by student entries.
Photos/Renderings: IMIB/Designer
(21.03.2016, USA: 03.21.2018)