ANNOUNCED THE WINNERS OF THE ACTIVE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

28/09/2010                                                                                                                                        Pdf Download

ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™, the new-generative eco-active and anti-pollution ceramic material created by GranitiFiandre and Iris Ceramica, announces the winners of the ACTIVE Architecture and Design award, in collaboration with the Resto del Carlino newspaper. The winning architects, designers and students will be setting off for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, where GranitiFiandre has been chosen by the Commission General of Italy for Shanghai Expo to provide the flooring materials for the 7000-square-metre Italian Pavilion. The International Award is composed of two sections:

- Active Architecture, assigned to the 6 best entries regarding contemporary architectural design projects in their wider sense, for both residential and contract settings, using ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic™ materials by GranitiFiandre.
- Active Design, assigned to 5 interior design projects for both residential and contract settings, using ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial CeramicTM materials by Iris Ceramica and FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti.

"The aim of the ACTIVE Architecture and ACTIVE Design awards is to encourage and promote eco-compatible design projects, a new way of ensuring respect for the environment through the use of eco-active, environmental-friendly materials such as ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterial CeramicTM", commented Graziano Verdi, President and CEO of GranitiFiandre and Gruppo Iris Ceramica. "We have also created a special section dedicated to students from the Faculties of Architecture and Engineering and Schools of Design, with the aim of providing an incentive to develop a "green" conscience right from the university environment".

The six-man jury for the Active Architecture award is made up of Pierluigi Visci and Pierluigi Masini (editor and assistant editor respectively of Il Resto del Carlino); Carlo Branzaglia (head of the Design Center in Bologna); Silvio Cassarà (an architect who teaches at the Department of Engineering of the University of Ravenna and is a visiting professor at the N.Y. Institute of Technology), Luca Molinari (an architect and critic, Professor of Architectural Design Theory at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Naples II) and Graziano Verdi - President and CEO of GranitiFiandre and Iris Ceramica. For the Active Design award, the winners were chosen by Simone Micheli and Matteo Nunziati, interior and product designers.

First prize in the Active Architecture section was awarded by GranitiFiandre to the project for the extension of the offices of the headquarters of Granarolo (Granarolo, Bologna) entered by Studio Open Project in Bologna and set out by the architect Luca Drago, using 500 m2 of ventilated walls in Taxos Extreme Active by GranitiFiandre.
Two projects came equal second, both of them aimed at improving conditions in areas subject to heavy foot traffic, such as underground stations.
Active all underpass, the project by the Hungarian architects Gabriella Meszaros and Sandor Bereczki (Studio AVS KFT) uses Active in the variants White and Silver Ground, together with Crema Marfil Select, to create a healthier environment in the high-pollution areas of the Budapest underground rail system.
Studio Paymacotas in Barcelona, on the other hand, was selected for its project focusing on the Renovation of entrances and platforms of the Santa Coloma station on the Barcelona underground rail network, which presented research into how a high-traffic area could be transformed using Active materials.
Third prize in the Active Architecture section went to the Studio RCF & Partners in Riccione. The project by the architect Alessandro Franco dealt with the Renovation of a building in Viale Dante, in Riccione, using the soft surfaces of the Wave collection, specially "activated" for the purpose.
Fourth place went to the Studio Hein-Troy Architekten from Austria, for the Velux sunlighthouse project by Juri Troy, a "model home" that produces all the energy it requires by itself. The Active Serie100 range - fully recycled, anti-pollution and anti-bacterial - is the perfect partner for this eco-sustainable design project.

For the Active Architecture student section, Graniti Fiandre chose the work by Luca Provenzano, who presented an urban furnishing project composed of elegant luminous seating systems for public parks covered with 60x30 Beige Ground Graniti Fiandre Active slabs.

Sara Eleonora Giorgia Parodi of Studio DEEPP was awarded first prize for Active Design by Iris Ceramica for her design project for a Restaurant with lounge within the Le Torri shopping mall in Rovigo. The project is a perfect blend of attractive appearance and the "active" functionality of materials such as White Brilliant Active, Sandwood Active and Pietra Serena Active.

Second prize in this section went to Studio Vanessa Bocci Interior Design for BOX, a compact 3mx3m living module that optimises space to the extreme and condenses three different living areas into a single compact, efficient model, kin a way that is original, functional and actively "livable", drawing inspiration from the project by Franco Albini for the Triennale, "Stanza per un Uomo".

Third place went to the project Quadra - a container for projects, by the architect Ferruccio Tasinato: a 2mx2m module created following the rules of renewable energy, an important question for which Iris Ceramica's ACTIVE materials turned out to be the decisive choice.

Finally, fourth place in the Active design section went to the project Variations on a Villa by the architects Marcello Corti and Stefano Affinito, which dealt with the renovation and interior design of a villa in Bergamo, conceived in such a way as to comply with environmental hygiene and building standards thanks to the exclusive use of ACTIVE materials.

For the Active Design student section, Iris Ceramica's choice fell to the work by Silvia Valpiani, who created the flooring for a kindergarten by creating simple shapes reminiscent of traditional toys and games. The rooms in the school thus become interactive, entertaining maps that stimulate the children's creativity and at the same time guarantee a hygienic, healthy environment.

ACTIVE Clean Air & Antibacterical Ceramic™ is the exclusive new material by GranitiFiandre and Gruppo Iris Ceramica with the brands IRIS and FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti. Active Clean Air & Antibacterical Ceramic™ is a new-generation ceramic material that helps to purify the air we breath and to make floor and wall coverings cleaner, healthier and more hygienic, thanks to the titanium dioxide (TiO2) fixed to the slabs, which, by means of simple exposure to natural or artificial light, sets in motion the photocatalytic process that carries out the anti-pollution and antibacterial action. This treatment is carried out using a sophisticated, exclusive new eco-friendly production method developed by GranitiFiandre and Gruppo Iris Ceramica.