In December 2023, Georgia Smith MBCS reported on the Design Education Trust’s INTERPLAY competition, which celebrates the best and brightest creative projects at the intersection of science and aesthetics. Winning piece Urban Elegance enjoyed its final presentation in July.
The winner of the Design Education Trust's INTERPLAY competition winner, Urban Elegance, enjoys its final presentation at the Royal College of Art. The win was announced during the exhibition in December 2023, with the artists awarded £8000 to develop their idea.
The competition, which encouraged students to create projects around the theme of ‘kinetic aesthetics of motion’, celebrated young creative minds. The 14 shortlisted projects which were exhibited brought 'elegant and playful motion design' into the functional built environment. Of those 14, six received commendation awards, and eight were awarded £1000 to develop their ideas.
The winning piece, Urban Elegance, is a collaboration between Holly Souza-Newman and Joseph Jones — both students of the joint RCA-Imperial College course ‘Global Innovation Design’ — which reimagines the humble traffic light. Inspired by the construction of Orrery planetariums, the traffic light aims to ‘breathe life into urban landscapes, transforming ordinary streets into interactive public installations’.
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Urban Elegance was displayed earlier in July in the Royal College of Art’s Hockney Gallery. The unveiling event featured a presentation by artist Joseph Jones. The piece was also exhibited at Imperial College London during the 'Exhibition Road Festival' in South Kensington in mid June.
You can learn more about Urban Elegance on YouTube.
BEAM: runner up pursues large grant
Runner up piece BEAM is a living lamp which blends kinetic motion, light, sound, and AI to transform our relationships with everyday objects.
After winning a £1000 commendation prize at INTERPLAY, the BEAM team pursued the £50,000 InnovateUK award to continue their project. Though they were unfortunately unsuccessful, they are undeterred and plan to try again in the next round, as well as continuing to look for other opportunities!
You can see more about the BEAM project on YouTube.
