Architecture Competition Home For The Blind Honorable mention - Istituto Europeo di Design

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to one of our Honorable mention winners for our "Home For The Blind" competition – Ida Jonassen, Suzan Amato and Laura Kupka from Italy!

Honorable mention winners from Italy

We are third-year interior design students studying in Istituto Europeo di Design. Coming to Italy as international students, we chose Milan as our location of studies in order to be immersed in an environment full of art and design. As international students with different backgrounds we have the unique opportunity to learn about different cultures and their approach to design.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

We focus on Interior architecture, ranging from large-scale hospitality design to detailed furniture design. Our work strikes a balance between contextuality, functionality, and a deep research on human behaviour. Currently, we are working on a thesis project on the future of residential design in collaboration with the real estate firm Future Living. In addition, we are developing research on regenerative tourism and the impacts of design, in partnership with Greenpeace.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

For us, architecture is the manufactured environment of the cognitive revolution. Therefore, architects and designers have the opportunity and grave responsibility of shaping the future and providing opportunities for growing with knowledge for the people it houses. It is also vital to create a fluid and functioning relationship between humans to architecture, architecture to architecture, and ecosystems to architecture.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

We believe that competitions are the fuel that keeps designers and architects creative and functioning. While working with companies gives real-life experience, competitions allow us to express limitless imagination. It is an opportunity to brainstorm ideas that might be too big for its time, but valuable nonetheless.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

We think it is crucial to participate in competitions because of the impact of “thinking big”. Oftentimes, people believe that competitions generate unrealistic concepts that have little effect on feasible architecture; however, we believe that it is, in fact, big ideas that ultimately change the world.