IIDA Announces Winners of Student Design Competition
The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) is proud to announce the winners of the 12th annual Student Design Competition, sponsored by OFS Brands. This year’s Student Design Competition challenged participants to create “Social Station,” a first-of-its-kind co-working space specialized for today’s social retailers.
“As the retail industry continues to shift, students are uniquely positioned to rethink how retailers appeal to the next generation of consumers,” said IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, LEED AP. “This year’s Student Design Competition jury had the difficult job of reviewing numerous entries that displayed cutting-edge innovation, creative thinking, and real-world retail design solutions.”
Entries were judged by a panel of design professionals, including Nick Blessinger (Director of Marketing and Education, OFS Brands); Krystal R. Lucero, IIDA (Senior Interior Designer, Edwards + Mulhausen Interior Design); Robyn Taylor, IIDA, CID (Director of Design, Westgroup Designs); and Betsy Vohs (Founder and CEO, Studio BV).
“We were delighted to see so many submissions for this competition. No two responses were alike, which reinforces how much creativity and imagination is out there in our next generation of design professionals,” said Taylor on behalf of the jury. “We were impressed with the overall quality of the presentations.”
Congratulations to Blair Lehman, Student IIDA and Monica Wilder of Marywood University School of Architecture, who won first place and $2,500 for their project CONNECTION NETWORK.
“The ‘connection’ concept is a strategic and holistic solution that illustrates a thoughtful and sophisticated response to flexible and intuitive wayfinding, unique lighting, and zone activities,” said Taylor. “This space also creates a smart canvas for various furniture and feature displays, supporting day and night functions.”
Marie Melvin, Student IIDA, of the British Academy of Interior Design, received second place honors and $1,500 for GROW. Third place and $750 went to Hao Wu, Student IIDA of the New York School of Interior Design for City Park. Winning projects can be viewed on the IIDA website.
For more information, contact Liz Moran, IIDA design competitions director, at lmoran@iida.org.
About International Interior Design Association
The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) is the Commercial Interior Design Association with global reach. We support design professionals, industry affiliates, educators, students, firms and their clients through our network of 15,000+ members across 58 countries. We advocate for advancement in education, design excellence, legislation, leadership, accreditation, and community outreach to increase the value and understanding of interior design as a profession that enhances business value and positively impacts the health and well-being of people’s lives every day. www.iida.org
