This week I was a member of a jury of an international contest named Frisian Design about innovation and sustainability. It was a contest organized by the Cartesius Institute and had entries from Portugal, Latvia, UK, Australia, Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands etc.

The quality of the entries struck me. I saw a complete sustainable Island for in the Frisian lakes. A durable World Sustainability Expo that travels the Frisian cities. A project for igniting new young entrepreneurs as firestarters. A project about recycling furniture and other stuff in a design and social way. The magical nano bubbles that would enrich Ameland. The sustainable Escher House etc.

Sustain

Two years ago I would have thought sustainability is all about the environment but these days I know it is more about a kind of mindset and most about people. It is about connecting, about keeping it to proportions. Ones waste is one others gold. The network is the main principle today in sustainability. To create something sustainable you need 3 things: People, Planet and Profit all 3 balanced in proportions. And the best project is combining all 3 of them.

And the winner is

We almost all immediately loved Cocoon Village by Margarida de Barros from Loughborough University Portugal. She created a project that aimed to get back to basics with a low tech approach with the cosy cocoons. With cocoons that would travel through the frisian land with a mobile unit built from recycled sea containers that would contain all the facilities. It travels to new areas where an underground system and sustainable tech would take care of water and energy.

I loved the idea of getting back to basics and travel through the Frisian country and setting up a mini community. This back to basics approach is a big contrast to the tourism focussed on the masses. It is getting back to realistic scales. And the cocoons are also a nice visual contrast to the vast and rough Frisian Country.

This project reminds the people they are humble small beings in a vast landscape. It would create awareness of what makes Fryslân great and that is why I think she is the deserved winner! I hope I can take a sleep in a cocoon in the near future.

Photos are from jury dossier, sorry for the bad quality…