November 2nd, 2016: Canadian University Dubai (CUD) has revealed the winners of its second annual student design competition, organized in conjunction with Dubai Design Week to celebrate emerging local talent in the industry.
Students from four universities took up the challenge, which this year centred on the theme of Dubai smart cities. Participants were invited to demonstrate their design flair by submitting their own interpretation of one of three unique installations that will be integrated into the Dubai Silicon Park project.
Encouraging students to combine both modern technology and traditional design features while embracing the values of sustainability, the competition was an opportunity for the next generation of designers to address a real-world challenge. CUD interior design student Acsah David was among the winners, taking third place for her innovative interpretation of shading device for smart streetlamps.
Judging the competition were leading Dubai-based design professionals, Ignacio Nieto de le Cal, Director of BIA Design, and Jorge Rangel, Director of Jorge Rangel Interiors. Ignacio said, “The competition provided students with an interesting brief, which resulted in a wide range of interpretations and brought forward some stand-out innovation that were implemented in a professional way.”
Speaking about the winning entries, Jorge said, “Those entries that really stood out demonstrated how their designs connected with the users and applied relevant technology to deliver sustainable, non-standard solutions.”
Following the judging, the top ten entries were displayed at an exhibition hosted by CUD during Dubai Design Week. Joining Acsah among the winning entrants were Ritu Suresh of Manipal University and Cesar Gouveia of SAE Institute, with all of the top three being rewarded with the opportunity to engage with design practitioners to build their professional portfolio.
Organizing the competition on behalf of CUD was Assistant Professor, Ms. Sophie Johnson. She said, “With 40 entries from different universities in Dubai, we saw a fantastic response to the competition this year. These competitions are an excellent opportunity and vital to students who want to continue to develop their ideas and design knowledge outside of the studio, while adding variety and industry-relevance to their portfolio.”
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