The theme of this year?s edition of the SMC BMC Design Award was ?Sustainable Living?. It is the 3rd time the European Alliance for SMC BMC successfully organized the design competition. With the objective to find new applications for these versatile materials, students from design schools around Europe were invited to submit their projects.

As winner of the SMC BMC Design Award Gold Award, Isa received a prize of 7,500 ? in cash. In addition, she will receive support from the European Alliance Members to fine-tune her design for improving functionality and manufacturing ability, with the objective to help successfully introduce the LightTurn ?into the market.

SMC BMC – Design Award CeremonyWinning design

The winning LightTurn design from Isa Buitenhuis combines a chair, shower head, interface and light system in one product. Traditional showering solutions for elderly consumers are visually unattractive and do not fit well in a private living environment. By creating a novel and durable solution in SMC, the LightTurn turns the moment of taking a shower in a more comfortable and enjoyable experience.

Through using a modular design, parts can be exchanged over time enabling the initial shower tray to be converted into a seat. The integrated interactive display keeps track of showering time, hence minimizing water consumption.

?For me it was great to participate in the SMC BMC Design Award, and I am truly excited to win,? comments Isa Buitenhuis. ?It was a nice experience to learn more about SMC and to get the exposure to the Composites world. I was a bit nervous at the award ceremony, but this prize makes me feel very happy and does make me forget all the long hours I invested in the project.?

?The Jury thought that Isa?s design was highly creative and new, addressing true consumer needs?,? ?adds Joan Montobbio, President of the SMC BMC Alliance and Chairman of the Jury. ?We thought the design was very complete and professionally presented, the solution is durable and therefore sustainable, and moreover, we envision it is feasible in SMC and can be successfully commercialized.?

Silver Awards

Antje Verhellen and Boukje Adriaensen (Design students at Thomas More in Mechelen, Belgium) designed Sea-weeds floating garden solutions, enabling growth of food in urban areas on lakes and sea shores, using available space in an efficient way. These are floating platforms made from multiple SMC components, with an integrated system for desalination of sea water and powered by solar heat.

Korneel Somers (student Industrial Design at TU Delft, Netherlands) designed the TileTurn Solar reflective sustainable roofing solutions. The BMC roofing tiles in his design proposal can turn black or white, and thus reflect or absorb solar energy dependent on season and external temperature. This enables to optimize energy generation inside the house, minimizing natural gas consumption.

Korneel Somers (student Industrial Design at TU Delft, Netherlands) designed the TileTurn Solar reflective sustainable roofing solutions.

Both teams received the Silver Award and a cheque of 1,250 ?.

About the jury

The SMC BMC Design Award 2022 was focused on developing new ideas and product solutions for SMC and BMC in ?Sustainable Living?. The projects were reviewed in detail by an independent Jury against the key selection criteria: Creativity, End-user functionality, Sustainability, and Feasibility in SMC BMC.

The Jury consisted of expert members from both the Design community and the Composites industry:

• Joan Montobbio, Jury Chairman, Managing Director of Menzolit Spain/ Menzolit UK, President of European Alliance for SMC BMC
• Joachim Froment, Co-founder and Creative Director at FutureWave Design & Engineering
• Franck Glowacz, Editor-in-Chief of JEC Composites Magazine
• Andrea Ratti, Professor Composites Engineering and Design, Politecnico Milano, Italy
• Hubertus Rehermann, Retired from Daimler AG, Responsible for SMC Manufacturing and Technology Center

Design Awards background

The SMC BMC Design Award is the international design competition organized by the European Alliance for SMC BMC. This competition recognizes and promotes design excellence by Design students or Young Design professionals while using SMC and BMC advanced materials in their designs.

The SMC BMC Design Award is intended to reinforce that SMC and BMC are innovative, versatile, cost effective and safe materials, used in products that make significant beneficial contributions to individual consumers and to society.

Design Ownership

Please note that the intellectual property ownership of the designs submitted for the SMC BMC Design Award resides with the finalists.

More information www.smcbmc-europe.org/award.php

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