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Plascon announces winner of the 2009 Plascon Prism Awards
Plascon announced the winner of the prestigious architecture and design competition, the Plascon Prism Awards on Friday, 7 August at a prize-giving ceremony at Decorex Joburg.
The winner of the annually run competition, now in its tenth year, is Chacey Eder (21), a final year Interior Design degree student at Inscape Design College in Houghton Johannesburg, with her winning design entitled Baobab Raincatcher.
“It is absolutely wonderful to have won the Plascon Prism Awards, it is the greatest feeling to get recognition for something that I have designed,” she says.
Chacey’s design is of an African icon, the baobab tree, made from recycled plastic and painted in colours from the Plascon 2009 Colour Forecast. The tree ingeniously acts as filtration system and harnesses the power of rain, creating a renewable water source that can be used at lodges, beachfronts, informal settlements, playgrounds, parks and on nature trails.
Her design fulfils the brief, which challenged students to create a space inspired by nature’s cycle of renewal and regeneration. The concept she presented is innovative and creative, yet can be applied in practice.
“This year’s brief forced students to think about sustainability. It was a challenging brief, however, it provided students with valuable experience as green design becomes a necessity rather than a nice to have,” says Tanya Nicholson, trade marketing manager at Plascon.
Chacey’s prize is a five-day trip to London to experience the 100% Design Exhibition, the UK’s leading architecture and design event in September. In addition, Inscape Design College Johannesburg received a R10,000 grant for a student studying next year.
“I am very excited to go to the expo in London and see what the design trends are in Europe. I thought this year’s brief was exciting and relevant to what is happening in the world with regards to sustainability and becoming eco-friendly in everything we do,” says Chacey.
“The presentation brief to students was delivered exceptionally well and this resulted in the best response from our students to a competition this year. I want to commend Plascon on their effort and the innovative approach they took to green design, which is the buzz word this year,” says Gail Barry, lecturer at Inscape Design College.
The category winners are Hein Botes of Design School Southern Africa in the public buildings category with his design entitled Eco-power Façade; Liezani Kotze of Inscape Design College Cape Town in the residential category with her design entitled The Mobile Lab and Rhodene Camila Botha of BHC School of Design in Cape Town in the retail and commercial category with her design entitled D-Vine. They received R5000 each and a colour hamper for their institution.
Liezani Kotze, winner in the residential category says: “This is a big achievement for me as I am now more motivated than ever to enter the corporate world of design. The exposure I get is very good for my future”.
“It was fun to design without boundaries and let you mind run wild conceptually. Winning in a category is incredible and surreal, I'm thankful to have been given the opportunity to showcase my abilities on such a large scale. What an unforgettable journey,” says Rhodene Camila Botha, winner in the retail and commercial category.
Hein Botes, winner in the public buildings category says: “Plascon gave an opportunity for young designers to showcase their talent and to coach them to use colour in new and exciting ways, whilst keeping the environment in mind. A peer interaction was also created.”
The competition kicked off at universities, universities of technology and design schools in February and 130 entries were received. Judging took place in July and this year’s judges included Dion Chang, Heath Nash, Mokena Makeka, Malcolm Kluk, Ora Joubert and last year’s winner Willem du Plessis. The entries were judged based on innovation, aesthetics, use of colour and overall insight and application of the concept within each category.
The judging panel shared valuable insights and constructive comments at the judging process. “It is encouraging to see our future designers are concerning themselves with the environment,” commented architect and lecturer Dr Ora Joubert.
Fashion designer Malcolm Kluk’s advice to students is to think how recyclable material will work in a designed space. Mokena Makeka, architect and urban designer, pointed out that there is nothing wrong with making a house beautiful whilst considering the environment. He says: “Green is not only about giving back, it can be beautiful.”
All ten finalists’ designs were exhibited at Decorex Joburg and can be viewed on the Plascon Prism awards website (www.plasconprismawards.co.za) and www.plascontrade.co.za.
In addition to the overall winner and three category winners, the other six finalists are:
Cecil Cameron of Greenside Design Center for his design entitled Metro Mall Taxi Rank
Yolanda Retief of Inscape College Johannesburg for her design entitled Colourful Rage
Anna-Karien Venter of Inscape College Pretoria for her design entitled Inspired Routes/Roots
Ryan Harborth of the University of KwaZulu Natal for his design entitled Education Station
Stephanie Ryder of Greenside Design Center for her design entitled Waiting on the World to Change
Ina-Mari du Plessis of Greenside Design Center for her design entitled Beacon of Hope
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