Urban Commissions 2018 announces 3 finalists for it’s fourth edition themed ‘water feature’, winner to be unveiled at Dubai Design Week in Dubai Design District (d3), on November 12
Urban Commission announces 3 finalists for the fourth edition ‘Water Feature’, with the winner to be unveiled at Dubai Design Week.
In a brilliant display of comradery, talent and determination, the top 9 shortlisted Urban Commissions contenders selected from over 100 submissions showcased their ideas for urban water features to a panel of judges; Khalil Abdulwahid Hassan, Acting Director of Fine Arts Department (Dubai Culture), Gregory Ketant, Cultural Programming Manager at d3, Ammar Kalo, designer and director of CAAD Labs and an Assistant Professor at the American University of Sharjah, and Rawan Kashkoush, Head of Programming at Dubai Design Week.
The designers exhibited creative expressions of water features ranging from misting devices, fountains that double as instruments, kinetic installations and meditative pools.
The nine shortlisted designers are:
Abdullah Ibrahim, Chourouk Elhajj & Noor Alshawa
Anumta Akber
Anumta Akber
Davide Antonante
Gaser Mohamed & Andrea Simeoni
Hussain Aljabi
Idil Kantarci
Khalid Al-Tamimi
Marcus Farr
Suha Al-Salamain
The three chosen finalists are:
Davide Antonante - Tree of Life
Made to celebrate the vitality of Dubai, the tree of life is a modular installation abstracting the city landscape as 5 towers ranging from 2.5 to 4.5 meter in height. The colorful stacked beads represent the diversity of people and culture in Dubai. Each totem acts as a misting device that doubles as a circular bench at the base
Khalid Al-Tamimi - FAYYD
Fayyd, which means overflown, is a concept fountain that aims to create a dynamic water sculpture. Inspired by the Japanese Shishi Odoishi fountains, Fayyd aims to capture the qualities of the bamboo fountains by recreating the natural sound of cascading water. The steel frames carry small lily-like pods through which water flows. Two out of the four pods act like seesaws when emptied and filled.
Idil Kantarci - Seamless Blossom
Historically, beneath the Ghaf Tree is where bedouins rest due to their cool seamless leaves providing shade. Today, Dubai Design District (d3) is a destination for today’s nomads of emerging designers. Seamless Blossom intends to invite users into a multi-sensory moment inspired from the heritage of Dubai. The form of the base comes from Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve's topography. The vertical sculptural elements emerge out of the existing waterhole locations in the Dubai Desert and spray out the mist to create a hovering canopy, similar to that of the Ghaf Tree.
The annual competition is a Dubai Design Week initiative supported by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and Dubai Design District (d3) presenting an opportunity for designers living in the UAE to produce an urban furniture product with a budget of AED 50,000 to be unveiled at Dubai Design Week and installed permanently in d3.
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