The UAE is Supporting the Designers of Tomorrow

Abu Dhabi, May 2015: The winners of the first edition of the 2015 UAE Architecture and Interior Design Awards held by Galaxy Trading and sponsored by Aldar Properties, have won the opportunity to fly to The VIII Architecture & Interior Design Awards 2015 at the Hotel Ritz in Madrid. The students from The American University of Dubai and Zayed University will be travelling at the end of this month to Spain to attend the inspiring awards, and visit the Spanish Ceramics company PORCELANOSA’s factories in Castellón, eastern Spain. They have also been awarded internships at Aldar Properties, which they will start after graduation.

Last month the students participated in the design competition held by Galaxy Trading in conjunction with the Spanish ceramics company PORCELANOSA Group, and the Association of Professional Interior Designers (APID), in which students were asked to design the layout and interior of a 10 to 25 m2 bathroom using PORCELANOSA products. The aim was to encourage the creative activity of future professionals, as well as the promotion and exposure of their work to identify the future designers of tomorrow.

Distinction was awarded to the first three finalists, with two teams from The American University of Dubai, including Maha Boulfelfel, Nagham Awi Awi, Malak Orfi, Hana Akram, Nour Nasrallah and Jasmine Ayesh; and Alia Nasser from Zayed University.

Faisal Al Raisi, Chief Operating Officer at Galaxy Trading said: “It is a great honor and an exciting moment to get creative students and prominent industry figures to collaborate, and come up with ideas as solutions to our everyday environment. Collaboration is a core value of Galaxy Trading and as a market leader in the building materials industry, distinguished by our exceptional attention to detail and a dedicated team of highly committed individuals; we’re excited to identify future talent. We believe in such events and competitions because there aren’t enough platforms to showcase our regional talent. We are thankful to our partners and our sponsor Aldar Properties for making this all possible and we look forward to hearing about the students’ experiences in Spain later this month.”

The jury was made up of high-calibre professionals from the industry including design directors, Fergus Duncan from Aedas, Charles Collett from Hopkins Architects, Patrick Bean from Mirk Architecture and Engineering, and Fariborz Hatam, the founder of Fhsi Architects. The students from both universities were assessed amongst other points, on their originality and functionality of the design, use of PORCELANOSA Group materials in the project, creation and design of new uses for the materials, and of course the presentation of the project and clarity of the idea.