Entries for The Reece Bathroom Innovation Award (BIA) for 2014 are now open. With a cash prize pool of $20,000, the award attracts talented professional and student product designers from around Australia. This year's award will explore bathroom furniture.

Now in its ninth year, Reece have changed the brief for this year’s award and are turning the focus to bathroom furniture—In particular the bathroom vanity. In a statement from their website Reece have suggested that Australians consider their vanity unit the preferred feature product of their bathroom. Additionally, with storage being one of the most important considerations in bathroom planning, the vanity unit’s place as the cornerstone of the modern bathroom experience is clear.

"Kai-Sai" by Rowan Page - 2013 Proffesional Entry

The Following is from Reece’s website:

THE BRIEF:

BIA entrants are required to design bathroom furniture items using the vanity unit as the centrepiece of their submission.

Your design should be innovative and enhance the bathroom space. Each entry must include the design of a bathroom vanity unit as a minimum. Entrants are also welcome to explore complementary or occasional furniture items. Judging will be weighted towards the bathroom vanity unit component of the entries.

The innovative aspects of the design can take many forms – from aesthetic, functional or sustainable, through to the type of material or technological integration demonstrated.

2013 Student Winner - "At the Touch" by Amanda Paukner

THE CRITERIA:

All submissions will be assessed anonymously. The identity of the entrants will only be revealed once the judges have confirmed the winners. When making their assessments, the judges will have regard to the following criteria and requirements:

Compliance - Minimum entry requirement

Each entry must meet all relevant design and legislative standards - Australian Standards, Watermark, WELS or BCA. Entries that do not meet minimum Australian standards will not be eligible to win.

Aesthetic Merit – 30 per cent

The entry will be judged on its aesthetic beauty and the effective integration of the various design elements. The interesting application of materials will also be considered.

Functionality – 30 per cent

Designs will be scored on ergonomics and utility. Judging will be weighted in favour of designs that solve a real user problem in a simple and clever way.

Viability of manufacture – 20 per cent

The proposed product must have realistic potential to be manufactured using commercial methods. Judging will consider the cost effectiveness of production using commonly available materials.

Innovation – 20 per cent

Each submission will evaluated for its innovative qualities such as the application of technology, the application of new materials or the integration of sustainability features.

For all entries that include additional elements over and above the mandatory vanity unit, weighting will be split into two sections with the vanity unit counting for 70 per cent, and additional elements counting for 30 per cent of the overall score.

2013 Professional Entry Finalist - "MR" by Robert Sebastian Grynkofki

AWARDS:

The awards are divided into three categories: Professional, Student and Tertiary Institution and the prizes are as follows:

Professional: $10,000 in prize money and will have their entry prototyped by one of Australia’s leading bathroom product design firms – Omvivo

Student: $5,000 prize money and will head to Barcelona, Spain for a two-week internship learning from leading global designers at Roca - the world’s largest bathroom designer and manufacturer Tertiary Institution: $5,000 prize money

The 2013 Professional Winner "Wind Rain Fire" by Chris Connel combines a Flush-mounted shower head with an extractor fan.

KEY DATES:

March 1st- Entries open

June 16th- Entries close and judging begins
August 29^th- Winners announced

Enter here:

Nathan Johnson

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