NEB Prizes 2023: All Applications

The conceptual building system design enables the customisable configuration and modification of space. The organic form inspired by nature is relying on 4 design elements: ecology, prefabrication, modularity and multifunctionality. The project was created to provide access to quick, healthy and environmentally friendly technology based on natural materials. It is a step towards responding to the problems of the modern world relating to climate change, limited resources and social changes.

Kairos takes you on an audio-visual journey through the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra, where you can explore the ambiance of three areas containing some of its oldest tree specimens. This project seeks to invoke a sense of inquisitiveness within its users, following the premise that if we can observe the processes of nature in virtual reality, we may become more conscious of its inner workings in real life and gain new levels of interest and appreciation for the natural world.

Biophilia is an ecosystemic structure that allows the revitalization of dead urban areas on account of the integration of species through its modules. Its application permits the reduction of pollution levels in overcrowded cities and enables socio-ecological education in everyday life, giving rise to new cities and sustainable systems.

You will think you are touching a soft hide but you will only touch Vérabuccia. We create the first Made in Italy pineapple peel leather, Ananasse, from the reuse of the peel that originates from the processing of the fruit. Thanks to the innovative production process (patented) which does not transform the aesthetics of the vegetable product, the material unlike of other alternatives to leather on the market, maintains the texture of the pineapple and becomes a high-performance material sheet.

You know those Japanese squared melons. They created those by putting melons in a square box and let it grow into that shape. So my idea would be to make, for example a shell of a table and let a strong plant grow into the shape. So you could have a sustainable table made out of a beautiful living tree and there would be nothing damaging about it. Make a garden or place completely out of nature, with human designs integrated. Using nature in its purest healthiest form and live together with it.

Our educational center is located south of Plasencia, outside the city walls and divided from the city by the Jerte river.
We consider El Barrio San Miguel to be the neighborhood of opportunities, a possible factory of ideas and creation. For this reason, a group of students have thought about how to make this a neighborhood where everyone would like to come to live. The proposals are creative, ecological, functional and aesthetic.

The project proposes to develop a data base and the technical tools to allow the mass-customisation of the urban tissue. The proposed tool aims to be tailored to individual functional needs and to serve as the framework to investigate, examine and diagnose the population of the city (the study case) by first collecting individual data into an urban big data format. Then, by factoring the empiric data against socio-cultural factors, check the user satisfaction index& create an optimal adaptation.

Klasirnica is an abandoned coal separation plant that formerly functioned as part of the Velenje Coal mine complex, now under threat of demolition. Our proposal is to reuse it as a centre for innovative energetics focusing on vibration energy, to be gathered from a new highway route through Velenje. The project connects research, testing and application of vibration energy and circular energy system establishment, with public interaction through art, education and general use possibilities.

Second skin is an open source methodology for interior designers to improve waste management based on a radical ethical position: creative people can’t design more with new materials, they have to design with what’s already there and nothing more that what’s strictly necessary. The project promotes the creation of circular ecosystems between manufacturers, artisans and designers to create aesthetic, functional and local solutions through an "rescue/integration" system.

A small municipality in north-eastern Italy acquires ownership of one of the largest disused military areas in the Veneto region in 2019.
Ecological consciousness, sense of community and management skills come together in a multidisciplinary project, inclusive and extendable to other cases of military decommissioning.
The project objective is to reconnect the facility with the social fabric, bring out the rich biodiversity preserved and create a profitable coexistence between man and nature.