February 26, 2021
The Grand Prix MONOLITH 2020 award was received by Łukasz Gąska and Marta Sowińska-Gąska from the Gąska Design Studio. Their #azyl design impressed the international jury with its innovative thinking about design and the role of architecture.
This year's competition was exceptional due to the circumstances. The SARS-COV2 pandemic has not only affected the lives of individuals and completely changed the way we live our lives at work and at home, but has shown some new opportunities and tasks regarding architecture. These are perfectly reflected by the winning work of the two designers. #azyl by Gąska Studio, designed by Łukasz Gąska and Marta Sowińska-Gąska, won the Grand Prix Monolith 2020 and the special award Project: Facade, for the best façade.
#azyl is a vertical building, surrounded by wildlife, where you can get quiet and relax from the hustle and bustle of the city. It fits seamlessly into the trends that are increasingly evident in the pandemic world - self-contained buildings that function as an asylum, with living space and workspace. Users of the house can freely design its layout, all spaces are distributed on mezzanines, and each one provides a beautiful view of the lake. As part of the design, the authors used tiles from the Cielo e Terra by Dorota Koziara collection, bringing out the genesis of their creation - a combination of the colours of the sky and earth. The blue, cool interior allows you to feel peace and harmony with the surrounding nature. And the balanced colour of the facade (Marrone mat from the collection) creates a background for the beautiful natural forest landscape.
Eminent architect and stage designer Boris Kudlička, chairman of the jury says: "The Gąska Studio project has crossed the boundaries of thinking about architecture as a rigid, defined space, and activated contextual thinking. We rewarded the architects' courage in looking at the use of space and the role of architecture. #azyl discovers and expands the perceptual boundaries of object design, inscribing it naturally into nature, which borders are not violated."
Łukasz Gąska and Marta Sowińska-Gąska will choose the main prize themselves, out of two proposed by the organizers and in accordance with the competition mottos - a visit to Abu Dhabi (#future) or a trip to Iceland (#nature).
Amadeusz Kowalski, Vice-President of the Management Board of Tubądzin Group: "We are very happy to see how our competition is developing and how anticipated and important it is for the industry. There was a lot of competition this year. Since January, more than 830 works were received from over 50 countries, including such culturally distant countries as Malaysia, Iran and Brazil. Tubądzin is a leader in creating trends, it also responds to the changing world. As a natural response to the pandemic situation and enforced social isolation, and after consultation with the architectural community, a new competition category Future NOW was launched. It challenged architects, designers and design students to design solutions for the future that is happening before our eyes. The panache and quality of the designs exceeded our expectations. I would like to invite everyone to the next edition of the Tubądzin Design Awards in 2022. We will soon launch our special online platform, TDA Community, which is created especially for architects and designers. It will be a communication bridge between the Tubądzin brand and architects, and will allow for exchange of experiences, inspirations, as well as strengthening of communication and joint relations."
The Future NOW category is divided into two stages. Most of the awarded and rewarded works come from distant cultures, such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran or Brazil.
The winner in the first stage of the competition was a Vietnamese architect, Van Long Le, who made a design of spectacular size. In view of the threat to the planet from destructive human activity and Vietnam's great tourism potential, he created the "Aquamodul" - a concept of housing modules placed at sea, self-sufficient in terms of energy, mobililty, connected in many ways and forming a sea village. It enables the author to meet his objectives - to restock the area, develop aquatic culture and promote tourism, which is largely based on trips around the Vietnamese islands. The island-modules in the design remain in a non-invasive relationship with the islands created by nature.
In the second stage of Future NOW, the jury decided to award Yi Yang Chai from Malaysia with the first prize. The author of the design looked at the abandoned rows of tenement houses, now marring Malaysian towns which used to be vibrant with life. Not so long ago inhabited by the local community, with shops and family businesses, today they are a historic legacy of the country and a reminder of post-colonial architecture of the area, a symbol of collective memory. "Journey between the walls" is a project for the reuse of vacant buildings through the intervention of natural daylight and their redesign. In their new shape, they can become either a museum documenting the memories of the local community or a gallery, a place of workshops and cultural events, small shops, cafes, cinemas or a library.
"The Future Now category proved to be a kind of platform for exchanging ideas related to broader context of architecture. It also showed the diverse way of thinking of architects representing distant geographical zones. In the submitted designs, we saw the problems they face on a daily basis. Almost all of the works addressed ecology and sustainability. We were able to see the contextual thinking of the authors, their stories about human needs and human well-being, of which these designs have become a part, " added the chairman of the jury.
During the Gala, the winners of other categories were also named: Young Power, Everyday Design or Unlimited Architecture; special awards were given, too.
The Tubądzin Group is one of the best recognized manufacturers of ceramic tiles in Poland. For 35 years it has been setting design trends, introducing innovative products and solutions. In Poland, Tubądzin is a pioneer in the production of large-format slabs, up to the size of 120x240 cm. Its products, manufactured from the highest quality raw materials, can be used in any space, not only in the bathroom. The highest quality tiles that resemble wood, marble or concrete, produced on the basis of the most modern world technologies, are the trademark of the Tubądzin Group. In 2019, the company sold its products to 60 countries.
Tubądzin invites outstanding creators of design and culture to cooperation (including Maciej Zień, Dorota Koziara, Wojciech Siudmak), organizes prestigious competitions for young designers and architects – Tubądzin Design Awards and engages in educational, social and ecological activities.
The Tubądzin branded tiles are made of natural and precious raw materials, and decorated with natural dyes that are safe to human health and the environment. While looking after the environment, Tubądzin promotes the principles of sustainable development and invests in innovative solutions - including the Continua+ technology, thus contributing to the reduction of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. The company is also involved in pro-ecological projects and undertakes activities aimed at increasing the local community's awareness in this respect.
Media contact:
Agata Grenda
Tubądzin Group Press Officer
mobile: + 48 608 558 405
agata.grenda@tubadzin.pl