A’ Design Award & Competition 2023 – 2024: Early Bird Submissions

The A’ Design Award & Competition, operational since 2010, serves to acknowledge, celebrate, and propagate the pinnacle of design excellence. This contemporary competition was conceived as a novel reinterpretation of traditional design competitions in the pre-digital era. Over the years, it has matured into one of the most respected design contests, featuring an extensive range of over 100 design categories. These include the Good Industrial Design Award, Good Architecture Design Award, Good Product Design Award, Good Communication Design Award, Good Service Design Award, Good Fashion Design Award, among many other categories.

The primary objective of the award is to showcase participants’ design works and provide them with publicity and acknowledgment. Winning this esteemed award not only enhances corporate reputation and brand image but also offers valuable feedback and enriching experiences for the designers. Each year, submissions are assessed by an international jury panel composed of academics, industry professionals, and media personalities.

For the 2023-2024 iteration, ArchEyes is prepared to announce the winners in a special feature on May 1, 2024. The early submission registration to A’ Design Award & Competition 2023-2024 remains open until June 30, 2023.

Here, we’ve compiled some of our favorite winners from past editions:

Yantai Experience Sales Centre and Exhibition by More Design Office

• Designer: Justin Bridgland, Jaycee Chui
  
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “The typical exhibition center is designed as a loop or a one-way path. Often a courtyard or site model is placed at the center as a focus; circulation is linear, lacking interconnection between distant spaces. MDO decided to challenge this norm by creating a public area at its center, a place for discussion and interaction. MDO wanted to design the space to be more human-centric and welcoming. The other functions are arranged as peripheral crystal ramifications, connected to the central heart.“

Yuamu Hotel by Naoya Tochio

• Designer: Naoya Tochio
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Interior Space Award Winner
• Inspiration: “With the spread of COVID-19 in 2019, the demand for banquet halls has disappeared. Therefore, the owner wondered if the banquet hall could be renovated as guest rooms. Taking advantage of the high ceilings, they decided on an original plan that could not be realized on any other guest room floor. Both the living room and bathroom were placed near the window so that they could look out on the river flowing in front of them, creating a new, unprecedented Japanese modern guest room.”

Shanan Hotel by Eason Zhu

• Designer: Eason Zhu, Erhuan Chai, Yeqing Feng, Eileen Chen, Jiajun Li, Apple Wu, Yiting Du, Liangliang Weng, and Xiaoxian Hu
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Silver A’ Interior Space Award Winner
• Inspiration: “Inspired by the surrounding bamboo sea and mountain scenery, the design language expresses the yearning and awe for nature. While enjoying the beautiful scenery, it can trigger deep thinking about life.”

First Shiguangli Marketing Center by Shanhejinyuan

• Designer: Shanhejinyuan
• Winner Category: Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category, 2021 – 2022
• Inspiration: Some people say that a city is like an island, and we are willing to turn it into an island about books. Let the time slow down, let the heart flow slowly on a flat boat formed by the collection of words, explore a book island, and create a “de-sales” sales office.

The Animal Backbone Retail Store by Eason Zhu

• Designer: Eason Zhu Alex Lin, Design Team and Erhuan Chai Qianlan Lu Guanhang Jiang
• Winner Category: Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category, 2021 – 2022
• Inspiration:  Regarding the design process, a narrative story was implanted when space was not yet characterized. Starting from the walking track of a cat, the inner space and the outer space in the space are divided, and the basic functions in the living state are divided by a circle. There are doors, and windows that give the ability to peep and observe the inside and outside. And on the inside, there are living rooms, restaurants, kitchens, bathrooms, etc., which form the scene elements of life and form a bubble map.

Tianqingli Residential Townhouse by Likun Shen

• Designers: Likun Shen
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Bronze A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “This project creates the spatial pattern of a multi-sided landscape and multiple courtyards, forming a direct dialogue between architecture and nature. The courtyard presents a natural openness while giving consideration to privacy. The project classifies the courtyards with the traditional Chinese garden landscape borrowing approach. Thus the sequence between the private and public courtyards is more variable, which is closer to being in line with the contemporary aesthetic needs.”

Orchard Stone House Residence by Rado Iliev

• Designers: Rado Iliev
• Winner Category: 2022 – 2023, Bronze A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: “House is inspired by the incredible setting and views and the surrounding almond trees orchard. Use of the stone quarry of the site informed the building design too.”

Cifi Ningbo Honored Palace Sales Gallery by Sun Hongtao, Zheng Shuifang and Lu Jia

• Designer: Sun Hongtao, Zheng Shuifang and Lu Jia
• Winner Category: Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category, 2021 – 2022
• Inspiration:  The whole project uses airplanes and sea-crossing bridges as inspiration elements so that the most exciting city charm is endlessly released in this world. The feelings of the visitors are guided by art in the hustle and bustle of the city and gradually integrated into the local space, rather than being an alienated bystander.

Sunac Guangshen Longshan Commercial Town by Judesign

• Designer:  Judesign
• Winner Category: Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category, 2021 – 2022
• Inspiration: Since the Internet has spawned rapid development of consumption mode, the sales center has gradually changed from a single model to a functional space that meets the needs of community public services; the service relationship with customers has also transitioned from split-level services to parallel services. Inspired by continuous communication and feedback from customers, it provides new operating concepts for community public spaces.

Fantasy Factory Retail Store by SIG Design

• Designer: Ray Lee, Jiajia Wu, Yinhui Gu, Hongrong Zhang, and Jing Lee
• Winner Category: Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category, 2021 – 2022
• Inspiration: The idea of FTY was extracted from the factory. F stands for Fair. For the large flow of people and rich product categories, the space was planned in the way of a market.T stands for time. Inspired by the SKY series of photography by ERIC CAHAN, the color is extracted from the color changes of the sky, implying time changes of a day. Y refers to You (customers). To emphasize the relationship between customers and Nayuki Space. Different You in the mirror is extended to the multi-dimensional interactive device.

Ruyi Exhibition Center by Kris Lin

• Designer: Kris Lin and Anda Yang
• Winner Category: Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Category, 2020 – 2021.
• Inspiration: The image of Ruyi inspires the project design. Ruyi, a ceremonial scepter, as the name implies, everything goes well, is the traditional auspicious object for Chinese people. When the emperor met with foreign envoys in ancient times, he also gave Ruyi as a sign of respect and friendship between the two countries.

O3Connect Stool by TzuWei Chang, KaiLi Chang and RouChun Wang

• Designers: Instructor: ChungSheng Chen, Designer: Tzu-Wei Chang, Designer: Kai-Li Chang, Designer: Rou-Chun Wang and Tainan University of Technology/Product Design Department
• Winner Category: Furniture Design Category, 2020 – 2021.
• Inspiration: A circle is a harmonious pattern, giving people a sense of completeness, harmony, and inclusiveness. Life is full of many circle designs, for instance; the infinite circle of Yin-Yang, the geometry pattern of three circle intersection, the famous five interconnecting ring circle of the Olympic logo and etcetera. Taking the inspiration from circular geometry comes with the origin of nature, the combination of wood and leather, soft and solid, transformed into a comfortable and warm sensation. Interlocking three circular curvature shapes to form the beautiful hollow supporting structure by laminated wood bending into shape, covering with high-quality of hand stitching leather. The appearance is three circular units connected to each other, giving it the meaning of the circle of life.

Guangming Public Service Platform by Zhubo Design

• Designers: Feng Guochuan, Zhong Qiao, Liu Xiaoying, Executive managers: Qu Yu, Zhang Biqin, Xiong Guilin, and Designers: Xu Longjie, Gong Xiaowen, Deng Hua, Zhang Meisong, Hou Lianjian, Bao Shaobin, Qu Zhenhua, Liang Fuji, Xie Bo, Lv Fang
• Winner Category: Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Category, 2020 – 2021.
• Inspiration: Taishi Chair-like layout (three sides enclosed, south side open) is very common among Chinese government buildings and was also requested in the project’s design brief. The designer intended to break the conservative Taishi Chair-like spatial pattern to bring a new image and inject vitality into the government architecture.

White Mountain by Kris Lin

• Designers: Kris Lin and Anda Yang
• Winner Category: Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Category, 2020 – 2021.
• Inspiration: The designer was inspired by the shape of the rolling hills and created the surficial landscape that extends down to the visual surface of the building. It connects the surficial and underground space. The project base is surrounded by mountains, with natural landscape resources such as Zijin Mountain and Hongshan Forest Zoo.

ShuiFa-White Marble in the Wilderness Property Exhibition Centre by Qun Wen

• Designer: Qun Wen, Gen Li, Shixin Gao, Jiarui Li, Suqing Yan, Liuqing Liu, Ye Wang, Dan Zhu, Jing Du
• Winner Category: Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Category, 2020 – 2021.
• Inspiration: Inspired by Wang Wei’s verse from Mountain Dwelling in Autumn: “Rain passes in the pristine mountain, refreshing autumn evening. Moon shines among the pine; clear spring flows on stones.”

Mountain House in Mist by Lin Chen

• Designer: Chen Lin and Liu Dongying
• Winner Category: Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Category, 2020 – 2021.
• Inspiration: The book house is located in an ancient village in Wuyi and was developed by a local tourism real estate company as a part of the development and construction. Before the development, only a few elderly residents live in this empty village. It was hoped that this book house could change the situation by bringing more visitors to it.

Sharing Joy Lounge Chair by Zhe Gao

• Designers: Zhe Gao and Designer: Youjin Song
• Winner Category: Furniture Design Category, 2021 – 2022
• Inspiration: The inspiration for this design comes from the posture that cats curl up in circles when they sleep. To combine it with minimalist style, we simplify and visualize it as an O-shaped element in geometry. The O-shaped element can be freely transformed to form a tunnel for cats to pass through, or it can be extended to the shape of the chair legs to maintain the concise consistency of the product.

Chongqing Zhongshuge – Bookstore

• Designer: Li Xiang
• Winner Category: 2019 – 2020, Platinum A’ Space and Exhibition Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: As one of the largest inland cities of mountains and rivers globally, Chongqing is a city full of surprises and pleasant, charming corners. Since ancient times, its landscape and numerous historical sites have attracted many classical writers and calligraphers. Until today, Chongqing is still a city of attraction to everyone. The designer intended to present the splendid landscape of Chongqing in the bookstore so that the visitors may feel like in the charming town while reading.

Revolving Especie Armchair by Zanini de Zanine

• Designer: Zanini de Zanine and Creative Director: Thyara Torres
• Winner Category: Furniture Design Category, 2020 – 2021
• Inspiration: The Especie revolving armchair was inspired by the creative force of Brazilian modern design from the 70’s. The furniture produced at that time was characterized by the use of solid wood, and its volumetry with striking lines, the furniture of the ’70s prioritized defined and rigid features. Allied to this, the idea of sustainability and resignification of elements of disposal.

Lattice Chair by Chen Kuan-Cheng

• Designer: Chen Kuan-cheng
• Winner Category: Furniture Design Category, 2020 – 2021
• Inspiration: Inspired by the waterfall, the back, and armrests of the chair flow downward in a beautiful lattice pattern, symbolizing the fusion of wood and bamboo, and the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. Combining the flexibility of bamboo and the strength of wood to form the perfect chair.

Rotass Haute Joallerie – Store

• Designer: Xiaobing Yao
• Winner Category: 2019 – 2020, Platinum A’ Interior Space and Exhibition Design Award Winner
• Inspiration: The main product of Rotass is a customized wedding ring, and it is the love between men and women that makes people produce this kind of consumption. Because the design relies on the brand’s long history charm of the original building, the designer always designs the space around the theme of “love” symbolized by the brand from the two aspects of structure and art.

DC 3 Stool by Sergio Fahrer

• Designer: Jack Fahrer
• Winner Category: Furniture Design Category, 2021 – 2022
• Inspiration: Inspired by the DC 3, a low-wing twin-engine monoplane that was a game changer for the aircraft market in the 1950s and 1960s, the DC 3 stool resembles the structural ribs of the monoplane’s wings. Result of the designer’s passion for research and the development of new techniques, the piece is designed with organic curves, and its structure is transformed into unique details to improve its aesthetics. The stool with a sculptural design finds in the apparent edges a way to highlight its lines.

Registration for the A’ Design Award & Competition 2023-2024 is open now.
The deadline for early submissions is June 30, 2022. Results will be announced to the public on May 1, 2023.