Audi Middle East Announce Third Audi Innovation Award

• The Audi Innovation Hub is a space designed by Riyad Joucka, founder – MEAN* (Middle East Architecture Network) and will be the base for Audi Innovation Talks during Dubai Design Week
• Konrad Troeger, Senior Lighting Designer from Audi AG attending Design Week and to give Innovation Talk

Dubai – The Audi Innovation Award is now in its third year and has consistently grown in status and popularity since its inception in 2016. The first of its kind in the Middle East, the Audi Innovation Award seeks to empower local designers and inspire the region with innovative creations that can improve the way we live. It is an annual competition open to anyone residing in the GCC and most Levant countries.

A professional jury from the region rewards the best-submitted projects based on degrees of innovation, ease of use, technique, feasibility, target user, development and relevance to the theme.

This year, designers are competing to win around the theme ‘Connections’, which is defined as ‘bringing things together’, or ‘how things relate to one another’. Its contemporary meaning reflects technology’s increasing ability to provide a means through which users and their products and/or service providers are able to identify preferences and behavior.

The top three designs will be displayed in the Audi Innovation Hub at Design Week in Dubai Design District, which is another first for the brand with the Four Rings. This structure, is designed by MEAN* (Middle East Architecture Network), founded by Riyad Joucka, who was also a previous jury member for the first Audi Innovation Award. The design is inspired by both the character of the Audi Brand and the concept of connectivity, which is the theme of this year’s Audi Innovation Award.

Commenting on the new Audi Innovation Hub, Riyad Joucka from MEAN* said “ The design symbolizes the spirit of innovation, as embraced by Audi as a pioneering car manufacturer; the structure utilizes cutting-edge design and fabrication technologies in juxtaposition with light, shadow and materiality, to generate a lively space of idea exchange and provocation.”

 He continued “A line is the simplest geometry connecting two bodies. With that concept in mind, MEAN* envisaged a space where a curved structure sweeps in space, bridging the exterior with its interior. Connecting those elements together are straight lines rotating in space through weaving, overlapping and linking, generating dynamic, organic spaces”

Materiality is a major departure point for the design of the structure. Contrasting the brightly lit lines, is a black matte rubber material, sponsored by Bee’ah, creating the facade of the structure with tiles made by processing discarded tyres using an advanced cryogenic process. The structure will be a major activation during the event, hosting the annual ‘Audi Innovation Award’, panel discussions, talks, and presentations.

The three shortlisted candidates for this year’s Audi Innovation Award were each awarded up to $2,500 towards the presentation of their concept model at Dubai Design Week and the prizes for the overall winner of the Audi Innovation Award include a trophy and a trip to the Audi factory in Ingolstadt, Germany to experience the automotive design journey at Audi headquarters. In addition to this, Audi Middle East awards $25,000 worth of consultancy to cover items such as IP registration, legal counselling and business development.

The winner of the third Audi Innovation award will be announced at 3pm on Tuesday 13^th November in the Audi Innovation Hub at Dubai Design District. Konrad Troeger, Audi Exterior Lighting Designer, has flown in from the Company headquarters in Germany, for the award ceremony and will give a talk at 6pm on the process of lighting design at Audi.

Commenting on his attendance at Design Week, Konrad Troeger said, “Lighting Design for cars as we know them, is the highly emotional process of shaping the most powerful details of the exterior sculpture full of character: the eyes of the car. At the same time, they are highly technical, digital objects with the best performance for the driver and surrounding people. It’s always a creative journey between these two worlds. And in the future, the light will be much more. It will be communicational, social and intelligent”.

-Ends-

Audi Innovation Talks

Innovative thinking is the beginning of all progress. During Dubai Design Week, Audi hosts the Audi Innovation talks,which are 30 minutes of intimate dialogue with key change makers. Open to everyone, the talks will be held at theAudi Innovation Hub in Dubai Design District.

Tue 13 5pm: Audi Innovation Award 2018 Winner

Tue 13 6pm: Konrad Troeger, Audi Exterior Light Designer

Wed 14 6pm: Paul Priestman, Co-founder and Chairman of PriestmanGoode

Thu 15 5pm: Jarvis Liu, CTO and Co-founder of Miniwiz

Fri 16 5pm: Manuel Jiminez Garcia, Co-founder of madMdesign

Sat 17 6pm: Riyad Joucka, Founder of Middle East Architectural Network (MEAN)

Top Five Designs for Audi Innovation Award

Abdhul Hazeeb HZB - Connect to Thrive

Connect to Thrive is an enclosed interior space proposed as place of solitude and calm; neither your home nor your workplace, but a space in between for use just for a certain amount of time: An urban design concept where humans can connect within the compacted life of living in cities.

Andrea Sensoli - CyRCLE

CyRCLE is proposed as a modern-day shelter and provides an enhanced means of communication: exploding the notion of modern fixation with screens by providing a 360 degree communal display space for meetings, gatherings or entertainment.

Dima Safuan - Welfare Rides

Welfare Rides aims to show the kindness in people and at the same time save them money. The concept is based on a screen that can be attached to any car so potential passengers can where drivers are heading to; providing the opportunity of getting a lift for free.

Mohamed Abdelfattah and Bojana Vuksanovic - CoolSkin

CoolSkin is an air-conditioned throw-on clothing; portable, super-light and USB charged, enabling people to be outdoors for longer durations in hot climates. Coolskin is especially useful for people forced to carry out labour outside in the heat.

Elias Soueidi - R2R

Ruin to Reality's aim is to allow access to virtual 3d models to ruined historical buildings and landmarks. This access enhances the relationship between people and their immediate surrounding.This interactive experience will help people reconnect with their environment and reestablish lost connections with what used to be there.

The Audi Group, with its brands Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini, is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the premium segment. It is present in more than 100 markets worldwide and produces at 16 locations in twelve countries. 100 percent subsidiaries of AUDI AG include Audi Sport GmbH (Neckarsulm), Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. (Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy) and Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. (Bologna, Italy). 

In 2017, the Audi Group delivered to customers about 1.878 million automobiles of the Audi brand, 3,815 sports cars of the Lamborghini brand and 55,900 motorcycles of the Ducati brand. In the 2017 fiscal year, AUDI AG achieved total revenue of €60.1 billion and an operating profit of €5.1 billion. At present, approximately 90,000 people work for the company all over the world, more than 60,000 of them in Germany. Audi focuses on sustainable products and technologies for the future of mobility. 

AUDI AG’s commitment to the region was confirmed through the foundation of its fully owned subsidiary in 2005. The current Middle East model range comprises the Audi A3 & S3, A4 and S4, the A5/S5 Coupe Sportback and Cabriolet and RS 5 Coupe and Sportback, the A6, A7, A8, A8 L, the Audi Q3, Q5 & SQ5, Q7 and Q8, the Audi R8 Coupe, R8 Coupe V10 plus as well as the R8 V10 Spyder. 

#AudiInnovationAward | ##AudiMiddleEast 

About Dubai Design Week
Dubai Design Week is the region’s largest creative festival, reflecting Dubai’s position as the design capital of the Middle East. The free-to-attend programme is made up of more than 230 events covering design across a range of disciplines including architecture, product design, furniture, interiors and graphic design. An accessible meeting point for the global design community, Dubai Design Week, staged in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3), is a platform for regional design as well as a catalyst for the growth of the creative scene in Dubai. In its 2017 edition, the annual event attracted 60,000 visitors to Dubai Design District alone. The festival’s varied programme consists of design-related events, exhibitions, installations, competitions, talks and workshops.

The fourth edition of Dubai Design Week takes place 12-17 November 2018. Key events include the region’s leading design fair, Downtown Design; Global Grad Show that brings together works from 100 of the most innovative universities across the world; and Abwab, the curated and interactive project containing original design from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

Dubai Design Week is owned and managed by the Art Dubai Group and is held under the dedicated patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice Chairman, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

www.dubaidesignweek.ae  
@dubaidesignweek

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© Press Release 2018