NEB Prizes 2023: All Applications

CITY/NATURE – an exploration of human-nature relations in the cities.
The project included a collaboration with a group of local, green activists "OSŻ” and responds to their needs.
The main part was the International Poster Contest with the aim to promote having closer relations with nature and to search for the best visual language on that topic. It received over 1,000 submissions from over 50 countries and ended up with the post-contest exhibition presenting works for the public view.

Nowadays, 80% of street space is occupied by cars, leaving only 20% available for pedestrians. Causing safety and mental health issues for citizens.
The issue is accentuated at the gates of educational centers, where many people are crowded in very narrow sidewalks at the entrance and exit of students.
Therefore, the +BEING structure's purpose is to widen the sidewalk, taking up the parking spaces near the school gates.Creating safe and livable public spaces through distinctive urban furniture

Unbuilt highlights the overlooked or forgotten beauties of place, encouraging communities to see a hopeful sustainable future for their local built heritage.

Unbuilt aims to develop a curated online database of architecture theses categorised by location in order to harness the artistic power of unseen projects facilitating an inclusive dialogue on locality, connecting people to place.

Europe's waterways were used in the past for the transport of goods.
Today most of the small channels are no longer used by people except in short stretches in a few periods of the year.
The goal is to create open spaces that are always accessible to the public where people can satisfy their daily needs while staying in touch with nature.
This helps people to know the importance and beauty of the waterways, as well as not abandoning them.

Nature takes-nature gives.In December 2020. Sisak-Moslavina County was hit by earthquake.People lost their homes and they are in need of fast solution. Parallel, the world is in the middle of lockdown caused by Covid 19.This concept represents modular social housing that can be used in any urgent situation.Modules can later be added or removed, depending on family members increase/decrease. Besides that, garden modules can be added- they connect users with the nature and calms them after trauma.

Dyeluxe provides 100% natural pigments from regionally sourced food by-products as a chemical detox for the textile dye industry. This sustainable project enriches the biodiversity of natural colorants, while reducing the circularity gap within the food and fashion industry simultaneously. The mapping of such localized colors, promotes the revival of traditional dyeing techniques with a modern twist and creates new opportunities for cities and creative industries for sustainable development.

I Grew Up In the Blockhouse delves into the personal stories of Soviet blockhouse living experiences, creating a space for common ground and connection among inhabitants. It takes Latvia as its starting point and shines a spotlight on the ongoing issue of isolation and poor living conditions. Through the use of personal narratives as a foundation, the project aims to inspire a united society that is empowered to make proactive decisions and improve its living conditions.

The Kreislauf Wald (circular forest in german) is a pilot project in Cologne to turn public green spaces into lush productive forests, giving way for the production of local food and materials in the city. Initiated by two design students, this system aims to shake up the consumption habits of citizens, using the design school as a laboratory to investigate forgotten uses of the local flora, and invent new ones. It embodies a new economic model based on self-sufficiency and collaboration.

As cities are growing, changing, and creating new-century dynamics, they need smart green spaces for growing communities. The green line concept is based on finding unused narrow spaces and transforming them into a linear park connecting link. By identifying unused, inaccessible, leftover, or forgotten lines, finding upcycle solutions for design, and developing a tailor-made concept for each city. Green line is way of thinking for future sustainable EU cities.

The topic of design concerns supplementing the development by inscribing the infill building with utility functions related to the context of the place, which is Nadodrze in Wrocław.