Johannesburg is the definite destination for architecture and interior design enthusiasts, as the 16th annual PG Bison award ceremony is held this month.
Each year PG Bison collaborates with a local company in deciding the concept and criteria for the competition. It is this criteria which South African (SA) students, in the fields of architecture and interior design, must consider and adhere to when entering this prestigious competition.
Forming part of the team this year is @ Home homeware store, a division of the Foschini group Limited. Students are expected to design a future store for @Home, to be revealed in the next three to five years.
DUT boasts a third-year Interior Design student, Tamryn Stewart, among the ten finalists competing for the grand prize, an all-expenses-paid trip, for the student and lecturer, to the 2011 Milan Furniture Fair and a R15 000 @ Home gift card.
Stewart, who dedicated three months to her design, said “I did not expect to make it this far. We did this project over such a long period of time that I started to feel nervous about my design.”
Now that she is in the final round, having gone beyond two class mates with whom she was in the top 16, Stewart aspires to win the award.
“Winning this award would mean everything to me. It would mean a lot for my lecturers as well because they’ve taught us everything we know. It would be awesome for DUT as well.”
Susan Barrett, DUT Interior Design lecturer, said, “having all three of our entries in the top 16 means Interior Design at DUT is a force to be reckoned with.”
For the past two years DUT students have won the award and while Stewart said she feels a little pressure, she maintained that she is “very confident in her design”.
She attributes the confidence to the competition as it was instilled and developed during this time.
Her design was inspired by the “modernist movement”, which means one eliminates clutter and focuses more on the functional elements.
She admires London for its creativity and implementation of design ideas and counts SA as a rapidly growing industry with tenacity.
– Naledi Hlefane
