Futuristic design wins trip abroad

Future by design: Duncan Fraser and Evans Lawuo are the winners of the CaesarStone Zero 2110 Design Award.

Two UCT architecture students were announced the winners of the CaesarStone Zero 2110 Design Award at Decorex 08 in Johannesburg recently.

Second year architecture students Duncan Fraser and Evans Lawuo scooped the top student prize for their gravity-defying design of a futuristic building suspended in mid-air. Their brief was to develop a new conference and exhibition space for the year 2110.

"What we designed is actually quite strange," says Fraser. "The building is a knot of three CeaserStone ribbons [from the logo], each with their own gravity. The brief mentioned that gravity inverters had been invented."

The brief was conceptualised by Jonathan Anstey of Stauch Vorster Architects to stimulate a response to the global initiative of environmental responsibility.

"We approached the brief looking for a simple solution that could solve all its problems but would still be understood at a glance," explains Fraser."Our design, which was made entirely from the sponsor's product, pushed its limits. It was eye-catching and different."

Judges looked for creative use of CaesarStone and innovative spatial and visual solutions which break preconceptions. Fraser and Lawuo won a two-day trip to Dubai, the burgeoning architectural centre of the Middle East, followed by a visit to the Marmomacc Stone Fair in Verona Italy.