Winners of The Great Indoors Award 2013 explore "The Nature of Things" in interior design

The Great Indoors 2013 recently announced the winners for this year's competition. The 2013 theme focused on The Nature of Things — in regards to the increasing global trend of incorporating repurpose, sustainability, and reconnecting with natural elements in interior design.

Out of 271 entries from 39 countries, the jury selected 20 nominees, four in each of the following categories: Serve & Facilitate, Relax & Consume, Show & Sell, and Concentrate & Collaborate.

Finally, one winner was chosen in each category:

• Serve & Facilitate: Cineteca Matadero by Churtichaga+Quadra-Salcedo Arquitectos (ES)
• Relax & Consume: Pakta Restaurant by El Equipo Creativo (ES)
• Show & Sell: Relojeria Alemana Boutique by OHLab (ES)
• Concentrate & Collaborate: Social Workplace by i29 (NL)

A shared €20,000 prize was awarded to the winners. The international jury consisted of: Edouard François (FR), Director Maison Edouard François, Paris; Beatrice Galilee (UK), Chief curator of 2013 Lisbon Architecture Triennale, London; Fabrizio Gallanti (IT), Associate Director Programs at Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Christien Meindertsma (NL), Designer, Rotterdam; Lyndon Neri (CN), Founding Partner of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, Shanghai and Design Republic, Shanghai.

Take a peek into the winning projects below.

Serve & Facilitate winner: Cineteca Matadero by Churtichaga+Quadra-Salcedo Arquitectos (ES)

"Ignoring the cinematic potential offered by converting a slaughterhouse into a movie theatre, CH+QS came up with an interior that is more fantasy than horror. Steel frames, interwoven with irrigation hoses and tube lighting, conjure an experience that seduces the senses. According to the jury, Cineteca Matadero is ‘a commendable technical insertion in an old building, showing the architects’ genuine understanding of what it means to go to the movies’."

Relax & Consume winner: Pakta Restaurant by El Equipo Creativo (ES)

"Traditional Peruvian weaving looms create the tactile, colourful walls of a Barcelona eatery. On the looms are intersecting rows of cord, which give the place its name: in Quechua, pakta means ‘union’, a term that also reflects a blend of cultures. Faced with the ‘impossibly high standards of a three-star chef’, the architects impressed the jury with a solution based on ‘a few strong gestures’."

Show & Sell winner: Relojeria Alemana Boutique by OHLab (ES)

"Five ‘precious boxes’, housing various functions, are the real gems in OHLab’s Mallorcan jewellery store. These stainless steel-clad volumes with golden mirror finishes add a sense of tangible luxury to the space, which the jury cites as a ‘very daring and well-proportioned project’ while complimenting the designers for ‘convincing the client that the architecture of a shop is at least as important as the merchandise’."

Concentrate & Collaborate winner: Social Workplace by i29 (NL)

"A whimsical setting of colour-coded islands enlivens the ordinary interior of an office for the unemployed in Den Hoorn. Spaces separated by colour, instead of by walls, enforce the humane design concept that people should not be placed in boxes. Swaying the jury was i29’s use of ‘banal elements in an interesting way to create complexity’ in a design that ‘challenges people to move through the space to discover it’."

All images courtesy of The Great Indoors 2013.

A full overview of The Great Indoors winners and nominees will be featured in the January/February 2014 issue of FRAME magazine.