Design

Introducing ED Planet Awards By ELLE DECOR India

AUG 30, 2021 | By Team ELLE DECOR India

‘Our design is sustainable’

We hear this phrase time and again as we come across multiple spaces and products that shape up the architecture and interior realm. How much of it is true though? Has sustainability become an overused term? Or are there designers truly practising it?

As we delve deeper into the concept, sustainability establishes itself as a domain for sensitive use of natural resources, maintaining an ecological balance, reducing the carbon footprint and preserving for the future generations.

Efficiency in consumption of energy, water and other resources coalesces with a conscious built-form to develop an eco-friendly design, reducing the negative environmental and human health impacts. As working in accordance with nature is essential for a greener and better future, we at ELLE DECOR India bring to you an initiative like never before!

What is ED Planet?

ELLE DECOR India’s newest initiative addresses the role of design in matters of the earth with ED Planet.

A creative conscious cohort invites architects and designers to collaborate towards an environmentally beneficial cause, sharing their views on eco-sensitive design that’s built with a purpose, not just in alignment with the site but in context to the entire surrounding. Alongside the numerous events and awareness initiatives, ELLE DECOR India will honour the varied organisations and prolific creatives who have been working constantly towards a sustainable objective.

ED Planet Awards—Participate now!

Acknowledging eminent professionals for shaping up greener buildings, eco-sensitive projects and resource-friendly products—we bring to you the ED Planet Awards, arriving this September. Watch out for our Instagram space as we call out for entries soon!

Deadline for Submission: By 30th Nov, 2021

Meanwhile, scroll through our 7 award categories…

  1. RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE

Homes that are crafted with strategies of environmental design using mindful resources, eco-sensitive construction technologies, energy efficiency, local materials, seamless indoor-outdoor layouts, passive cooling and heating, green buildings, green screens and more.

  1. COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE

Have you designed a workplace, retail store, a mall, hotel or a resort that’s weaved in accordance with the environment? If the answer is yes, then you must submit your work under this section and get a step closer to the coveted award.

  1. INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

An interior space that uses features like repurposed material in decor, furniture made sustainably, native finishes, environmental friendly furnishings, ambient lighting, natural light/ventilation and the likes of it qualifies for the accolade. Select your best interior space across residences, offices, restaurant and hospitality projects, institutes, cultural spaces and more.

  1. PRODUCT DESIGN

Product design in the realm of decoration and interiors. If the recipe of your furniture piece includes an innovative approach, unique materials, eco-design, natural finishes, recycled components and mindfully designed from conceptualisation to conclusion, then this category is tailor-made for you. We would like to honour your products that are dressed in eco-sensitive rhythm and have conscious endeavours to help the planet.

  1. INDUSTRIAL & BUILDING SYSTEMS

Building systems, technology and products in architecture and interiors that minimise impact on the environment like plumbing systems, air conditioning, air purifiers, lifts, structural, electrical, lighting, building automation, facades, etc.

  1. MATERIALS

Inventions and innovations in materiology including building materials like tiles, laminates, hardware, paints, fabrics, finishes, panelings and more that reduce environmental impact, consume minimal embodied energy, take into account lifecycles of their raw materials and are biodegradable or recyclable.

  1. STAR TALENT

Sustainability, innovation laced with aesthetics are the prime facets that will combine to form a star design, shining the brightest. If your innovation radiates an amalgamation of all three aspects, this is your moment of glory!

Meet the jury

Manit Rastogi & Sonali Rastogi, Morphogenesis

One of India’s leading award-winning Architecture and Urban Design practices with offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi, Morphogenesis reinterprets regional architectural roots and consistently employs passive design solutions for a unique contextual language.

“The project should exemplify socio-cultural sensitivity leading to a unique response that embodies its context while incorporating aspirations that are both global and local. Interior projects that add value through visual appeal, effective space usage, degree innovation, aesthetic qualities, functionality, and usefulness in addition to ease of implementation and implementation efficiency, ergonomics and human interaction.”

-Manit Rastogi & Sonali Rastogi

Ayush Kasliwal, AKDPL

EDIDA 2020 winner, Ayush Kasliwal’s work is deeply rooted in Indian sensibility and has played a big role in modernizing Indian aesthetics.

His practice Ayush Kasliwal Design Pvt. Ltd.” (AKDPL) is a design-driven, quality-conscious, multidisciplinary design practice based in Jaipur, India, involved in the manufacturing of high quality furniture items that are finding their way into design showrooms the world over.

“Design plays a critical role here as well, as design can plan in both—obsolescence, as well as durability, not just in materials, but also in the visual appeal, and the references that are brought about to create an emotional connect .”

– Ayush Kasliwal

Parameters by the jury

Unbuilt Projects/ future projects/ partially completed and incomplete projects are not eligible for Awards submission.

Only projects which have been completed after January 2016 are eligible for participation. Unbuilt Projects/ future projects/ partially completed and incomplete are ineligible for Awards submission.

For the project, here are some aspects based upon which your work will be evaluated:

Sustainable Design Strategies: Climatic/Environmental conditions (includes the pandemic) addressed through a suitable passive and/or technological approach. Project should be well set in its individual ecosystem.

Resource Optimisation: The project should have no resource mismanagement. All resources used should deliver maximum value/impact to a project for its intended capital cost. This approach should extend into the project’s operational life cycle as well.

Furniture and Accessories: Projects will be evaluated on design innovation, uniqueness, social impact, environment friendliness, energy utilization, engineering, ergonomy and visual appeal.

Architectural Systems: Sustainable products that reduce their impact/ benefit the planet. The projects will further be assessed on waste reduction, water use reduction, pollution reduction, improving the environment or improving well-being, increased recyclability, reusability, easier maintenance, and extended durability etc.

Architectural Materials: Use locally sourced products, recycled materials, eco-friendly and

innovative materials with minimum waste and low/positive impact on the planet. Daylight to be treated as a material. The origin of the material/s used for the product, its renewability and the efficiency of extraction/ utilisation should be taken into consideration. Subsequently, sustainability after the end of life—is the material reusable, recyclable or is biodegradable such that it becomes completely harmless, should be addressed.

Process: Is the process efficient, what is the resource utilisation( material/ equipment/ energy/ infrastructure/ transportation/ packaging/ water ) and are these various aspects of creating and distributing the product cognizant of the impact of the same on the environment? What about the effluents generated in the process, are they handled in a responsible manner. What about the people involved in the process, is it a fair and equitable means of production.

Design: Does the design do what it is intended to do, from a functional point of view? Does the design itself address issues of sustainability? Does the product have an emotional connect in terms of its appeal or its ability to relate to the audience it is meant for?

APPLY NOW!

What’s next? 

We’re absolutely excited to share a lineup of some fabulous activities and engagements with our jurors and more.

Events, ideas and discussions that engage in debates, investigate concepts by innovators in the field of sustainability, followed by deliberations and discourses on the subject are about to visit your screens as you tune in to ED Planet! Stay tuned!

And don’t forget to send in your work by applying here…