Dezeen and Forbo Flooring have teamed up to launch a global design competition that challenges architects and designers to create an interior space that promotes wellbeing using Forbo Flooring's Marmoleum material.
The Marmoleum Design Challenge tasks entrants with creating a small space within a space that can provide respite and enhance wellbeing in environments such as schools, offices or hospitals – anywhere where you can play, learn, work or heal. Residential applications are excluded.
The competition is free to enter for anyone over the age of 18 working in or studying architecture or design, from any country around the world.
The winner will receive a £5,000 cash prize as well as having their design realised in collaboration with Forbo Flooring and exhibited in the brand's showroom in the Netherlands.
The winner will also be invited to attend the launch event in the Netherlands, with the opportunity to meet members of the jury and Forbo Flooring.
They will also receive significant exposure through the publication of the winning project on Dezeen and its social media channels, as well as via Forbo Flooring's various social media channels worldwide.
The challenge is open for entries until 30 April 2024. A shortlist of the best ideas will be published on Dezeen in May with the final result announced in June.
Brief
Entrants are tasked with designing a 10-square-metre space that can enhance wellbeing by providing a space for relaxation and rejuvenation.
The space should be designed to enhance wellbeing by providing a space for relaxation and rejuvenation. The design should be realistic and feasible to construct.
Marmoleum must be utilised as flooring. Additionally, it can be applied on the walls up to a height of one metre. Entrants can also incorporate Forbo's Furniture Linoleum surfacing material and bulletin board on objects within the space.
Contestants should not use competitive flooring products or other surface materials.
The design should include a digital three-dimensional representation explaining the design, perspective and scale. The connection of the small wellbeing space to the larger building should be clarified in writing and illustrated. Material, texture and colour expression should be clearly visible in the design and/or in the moodboard.
Marmoleum is a linoleum flooring product by Forbo Flooring that is crafted from natural raw materials, including linseed oil extracted from flax plant seeds, wood flour, limestone, pine resin and jute plant fibres.
As a result, it is climate-positive from cradle to gate, without any offsetting. This means that the carbon dioxide absorbed by the biobased materials used to make the product is greater than the carbon dioxide emitted by manufacturing it.
The competition coincides with the 125th anniversary of Forbo Flooring producing linoleum at its site in the Netherlands.
To learn more about Marmoleum, entrants can watch a webinar led by Forbo Flooring's design team. The webinar features a product deep dive into the Marmoleum material and its applications, followed by a question-and-answer session to help contestants with their design.
Who can enter
The competition is free to enter for anyone over the age of 18 working in or studying architecture or design, from any country around the world.
Entries from individuals or teams will be accepted and entrants may submit more than one design, if they wish. However, entrants must complete and submit a separate entry form for each design submitted.
How to enter
To enter the competition, entrants must register on the Forbo Flooring website here. They will be asked to provide the following information:
› Name
› Email address
› Phone number
› Address
› Postcode
› City
› Country
› Company name
› Job title
Upon registering, they will be sent information about Forbo Flooring Marmoleum to inform their design and a link to the online entry form.
To enter the competition, they will be required to submit the following information via the entry form:
› Name of their design
› A description of the design idea, and an explanation of how it meets the brief (maximum 500 words)
› A minimum of five and a maximum of 10 three-dimensional visualisations showcasing the idea
› A mood board of materials used in the design
› (Optional) Video or animation showcasing the idea
› Each image submitted should be a single image, free of any logos or text. They should be JPGs with a minimum resolution of 72 dpi and a maximum file size of 1MB each.
The moodboard should also be submitted as a JPG with a minimum resolution of 72 dpi and a maximum file size of 5MB.
The optional video or animation should be uploaded to an external hosting platform (such as YouTube or Vimeo) and submitted via a URL.
For teams, one member of the team should submit the entry and the rest of the team should be credited in the appropriate field on the form.
If an entrant wishes to submit multiple entries, they should complete and submit a separate entry form for each entry.
Entries must be submitted in English.
All entrants must read and agree to the terms and conditions of the competition before entering.
Judging criteria
Judges will be looking for innovative but buildable ideas for a wellbeing space. Entrants will be judged against the following criteria:
› Strength of the overall idea
› Aesthetics
› Functionality and practicality
› Originality
› Positive impact on users' wellbeing
› Use of Marmoleum
› Positive environmental impact
Judges
Entries will be judged by an expert panel of judges, including interior designer Ilse Crawford, HOK senior interior designer Christine Vandover and Studio Pepe co-founders Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto.
They will be joined by Dezeen editorial director Max Fraser and Forbo Flooring senior linoleum designer Tamar Gaylord.
Closing date
All entries must be received by midnight CEST (Central European Summer Time) on 30 April 2024. Any entries received after this date will not be considered.
Prizes
A shortlist of the best ideas will be published on Dezeen in May with the final result announced in June.
The winner will receive a £5,000 cash prize as well as having their design realised in collaboration with Forbo Flooring and exhibited in the brand's showroom in the Netherlands.
The winner (one representative only) will also be invited to attend a launch event in the Netherlands.
Terms and conditions
Forbo Flooring and Dezeen's selection of the winner is final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.
Entrants retain all intellectual property rights to their entries, but grant Dezeen and Forbo Flooring a licence to use their design and name for marketing purposes.
Full terms and conditions for the competition can be viewed here. All entrants must read and agree to the participation terms and conditions before entering.
Contact
Any questions relating to the competition and all press enquiries should be sent by email to [email protected].