Roca’s Jump the Gap Design Competition
Jumpthegap is a biennial competition launched in 2004 by bathroom brand Roca in collaboration with the Barcelona Design Centre. The aim of the contest is for architects, designers and students to showcase their talent and submit new, innovative and sustainable concepts for the bathroom space of the future.
Entrants are encouraged to use their vision and create conceptually futuristic and innovative bathroom solutions, whether it’s a new product, new space or even new uses and functions for the bathroom.
This international design competition is open to students under 30 and professionals of architecture and design under 40 and offers prizes of up to €10,000. The registration period is now open and will run until Wednesday 27th March 2019 at www.jumpthegap.net. The submission deadline is 25th April 2019 with the awards ceremony itself taking place on Thursday 10th October 2019 at the Disseny Hub Barcelona.
There are three prizes totalling €26,000 on offer to entrants. Two winning projects will be chosen and will receive a prize of €10,000 each, one in the professional category and one in the student category. There is also a special We Are Water Foundation Prize, which will be presented by the foundation (www.wearewater.org), and the winner of this will receive €6,000.
Shortlisted projects will be selected by an esteemed group of global architecture and design professionals:
Ruy Ohtake, President, Architect, Brazil | Emilio Cabrero, General Director, Design Week Mexico, Mexico | Josep Congost, Roca Design and Innovation Director, Spain | DoroKoziara, Designer, Poland | Carlo Ratti, Director MIT Senseable City Lab Founding & Partner Carlo Ratti Associati, Italy | Isabel Roig, Executive Director, BCD Barcelona Design Centre, Spain | Murat Tabanlioğlu, Architect, Founder of Tabanlioğlu Architects, Turkey | Boris Voskoboynikov, Architect, Leader of VOX ARCHITECTS, Russia.
The We are Water Foundation award will be judged separately by an equally prestigious panel:
Xavier Torras, Director of the We Are Water Foundation, Spain | Low Cheaw Hwei, Vice President Philips Design Asia, Singapore | Deborah Seward, Director of the United Nations Information Center, Belgium.
Entries may be individual or from a group of two professionals or two students. Mixed groups are not accepted, and each person or group may participate in one project only.
Over the last seven editions of the jumpthegap contest, there have been more than 2,900 projects submitted by 20,600 participants from 134 different countries. The illustrious list of past jury members includes Ron Arad, Patrick Schumacher, Tom Dyckhoff, Marcel Wanders and John Pawson.
Last year’s winning projects
Professional Category: ‘Panacea’, by the Iranian designer Mohammadreza Shahmohammadi (Iran University of Science and Technology).
Bath manufactured in an elastic material that allows its molding to obtain the required shape and size. It may therefore be adapted to any space and can store less amount of water. It also features a locking system that avoids the drowning of children when it is not in use. Patrik Schumacher has especially valued “the simplicity, elegance and innovation of the proposal, able to solve three problems: the excessive water consumption, the lack of space in homes and the drowning of children in the bath”. Schumacher and Xavier Torras have presented the 10,000€ award to Shahmohammadi.
Student Category: ‘Lambda’, by the Spanish design student Denis Lara Molina (EINA, Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona).
This is a sterilizer that decontaminates the hands of users by means of a short wave frequency light, very similar to UV light, which is already used in other fields to purify water and air. This solution achieves total hygiene both in the domestic and public environments. Apart from its originality, Valentin Vodev has highlighted its social purpose: “This is an intelligent proposal that may contribute to the solution of the hygiene problem in public spaces, and can be implemented and scaled for a global use”. Vodev and Isabel Roig have presented the 10,000€ award to the young student.
Special Sustainability Award (presented by the We Are Water Foundation): ‘Delta’, by the Polish designers Michal Hondo and Kinga Grzybowska (Poznan University of Technology).
Shower made up of two extendible screens that unfold from a column that can adapt to any bathroom space. It integrates a dehumidifier that transforms steam into water, which is stored in that same column to be reused afterwards. Benedetta Tagliabue and Josep Congost have presented the 6.000€ award to the winning designers. Tagliabue has valued “the easy adaptation of the project to different spaces and its sustainable character, which provides a second life to the most valuable resource we have: water”.
For more information or to enter the competition, visit www.jumpthegap.net.
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