Colab and Broadway Interiors launched a student design and build competition last September, the winners of which were announced during Dubai Design Week at Colab’s material library space in d3. We chatted with the judges, mentors and students on their experience, design process, and what’s next in store.
At the start of Dubai Design Week, three finalists were announced for the Colab Design & Build Competition aimed at encouraging UAE design students to take part in a real life project, and see the culmination of their work in the refurbed interiors of Colab Materials Library, located in d3.
The competition, which officially launches on September 13, 2020, initially called for students to develop a design concept for a full wall(s) or floor for implementation within Colab. The design concept was to be developed from a portfolio of products generously supplied by Optimum Gulf, Dukta, Topakustik, Surface Eleven, Finsa, Sherwin, Williams, FunderMax HPL, No Grey Area International, BSH Walls & Floors, Wow Factor, 2tec2, Finshes&Beyond and Shaw Contract.
The three winners, ironically, all hailed from Heriot Watt University, and we can be assured of no partial attitudes based on the fact that the submissions went through a rigorous process whereby all evidence of University names was removed, leaving the judges to assess nothing but the pure design.