Press Release
3 October 2007
Nominees Announced for The Great Indoors Award
After reviewing all 275 entries submitted to The Great Indoors Award, the Dutch
nominating committee has chosen 23 projects for further consideration. Among those
nominated for the new international prize for interior design are familiar names such
as Zaha Hadid and Richard Hutten, as well as lesser-known firms and designers from
countries like China and Australia. An international jury of experts will select
winners in five categories, each of whom will receive a cash prize of €10,000. The
awards ceremony will take place on Saturday 17 November in Maastricht.
Nominees
The nominating committee, which convened in mid-September, consisted of Paul Rinkens (director of
design hotel La Bergère, Maastricht), Irma Goedemondt (editor in chief of Eigen Huis & Interieur and
MTC), Richard Hutten (designer), Kiki Niesten (Maastricht-based fashion retailer), Gerrit Schilder Jr
(chairman of interior design organization BNI), Huub Smeets (director of Vesteda) and Rob Wagemans
(architect/Concrete Architectural Associates, Amsterdam). After a day of deliberation, they came up with
a maximum of five nominees in each of the following categories:
Relax & Consume (leisure): The Clinic (bar/club/restaurant, Concrete Architectural Associates, NL), The
Voyeuristic Wall (yoga/wellness centre, Neri & Hu Design, China), Dusk (bar, Diretribe, Australia), R.
Lopez de Heredia (visitors/wine-tasting centre, Zaha Hadid, UK) and East Beach Café (café, Heatherwick
Studios, UK).
Show & Sell (retail): Sur Place (exhibition, Studio van Eijk van der Lubbe, NL), Sunao Kuwahara
(flagship store, Steve Lidbury Design, Japan), Jin's Global Standard Nagareyama (eyewear store, Ryui
Nakamura Architects, Japan), Istanbul (exhibition, Kossmann.De Jong, NL), and Bernhard Willhelm
(flagship store, Item Idem, Japan).
Concentrate & Collaborate (office): Nexon (showroom/office, VOID Planning, Korea), Maguire (office,
Clive Wilkinson Architects, USA), Xue Xue Institute (design academy, E15 Design und Distributions,
Taiwan), BBH (office, Ministry of Design, Singapore) and TBWA-Hakuhodo (office, Klein Dytham
architecture, Japan)
Serve & Facilitate (public): Viikki Church (church, JKMM Architects, Finland), Interior Parkrand
Building (semi-public space, Richard Hutten Studio, NL), Fleet Library (library, Office dA, USA) and
Moltke Refectory (university refectory, Jürgen Mayer H. Architects, Germany).
Interior Design Firm of the Year: Wonderwall (Japan), Concrete Architectural Associates, NL), Maurice
Mentjens Design (NL) and Neri & Hu Design (China).
International Jury
On Thursday and Friday, 4 and 5 October 2007, the international jury will convene under the
chairmanship of Rolf Fehlbaum (Vitra). Mr Fehlbaum and the remaining members of the jury – Andrej
Kupetz (director of the Zollverein School Essen and the Rat für Formgebung), Renny Ramakers (founder
and director of Droog Design), Wiel Arets (architect), Deyan Sudjic (director of the Design Museum
London) and Claus Sendlinger (director of Design Hotels) – will select winners in each of the five
aforementioned categories. The winners, each of whom will receive a cash prize of €10,000, will be
announced on Saturday 17 November in Maastricht at a festive ceremony that all 23 nominees have been
invited to attend.
The Great Indoors 2007
The Great Indoors is a new international, biennial, interior design award. Interior design – currently the
most vital of all areas of design – integrates the disciplines of fashion, architecture and product design. By
recognizing the best interior design worldwide, The Great Indoors AWARD wishes to celebrate the
importance of superlative realized projects and thus to raise the overall quality of interior design. The aim
of the Great Indoors CONFERENCE is to contribute to the international debate on the growing
importance of interior design. Last but not least, The Great Indoors WORKSHOPS have been organized
to have a stimulating effect on education and on the positions of both designers and clients involved in
interior design.
The Great Indoors is a joint initiative of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) Maastricht; Marres,
centre for contemporary culture; and Frame magazine. The project was made possible thanks to the
Province of Limburg and the Municipality of Maastricht.
In addition to The Great Indoors Conference, Maastricht is hosting two other design-related events in
mid-November: WoonEvent Maastricht and DesignRoute Maastricht.
Not for publication:
Images of the 23 nominated projects can be downloaded at www.the-great-indoors.com/about/press. For
the complete programme and information on registering for the conference and attending the awards
ceremony, please go to www.the-great-indoors.com/conference. For additional information, you can also
contact Anneke Moors, press@the-great-indoors.com, T +31 (0)6 28 43 55 42.