INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, has today announced the best interior designs of 2017 across the categories of Retail, Health & Education, and Offices. The annual awards, which started today at Arena Berlin, encompass the best interior designs from the past 12 months from around the globe.  This year’s winners so far are truly international, spanning a concept store in Taiwan, a university hospital in Canada, and a super-brand headquarters in Ireland.

The winning project in the Retail category is ROU by T-HAM Concept Store in Taipei, Taiwan, by WZWX architecture group.  The judges felt that the design for the specialist meat store has created a new typology for the retail experience, turning meat into a precious object – worthy even of gift-wrap. “The butchers’ shop is transformed into a sophisticated hygienic environment with a colour palette and choice of materials that creates a soft and warm atmosphere.”  The judges called the integration of services “masterful”.

The winning project for Health & Education is Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Canada by CannonDesign + NEUF architect(e)s. In integrating existing facilities and adjacent heritage buildings, the judges recognised the new Centre Hospitalier as an “urban experience of lively and accessible nature”, commenting that “the architects played a key role in determining the final brief and came up with a smart strategy for phasing. Main circulation spaces and public areas are treated as places for encounter providing easy orientation. The transition into the treatment areas is well supported by the architectural concept.”  The judges said that the hospital’s precise choreography of views out to the city was “remarkable”.
 
Highly commended in this category is a fitness space called Physical in Shanghai, China, created by Panorama International.  “This interior of great dynamic energy perfectly reflects the gym’s identity as a motivating and thrilling user experience.”   
 
Finally, in the Offices category, Airbnb’s European Headquarters in Dublin, Ireland is the winning project, devised by Heneghan Peng Architects.  The judges were impressed by “the clarity and richness of the theatre concept, layered horizontally and vertically to enable both intimate and collective social encounters”.  This created a “highly agile working environment both for its current use and future potential re-uses”.

KSM Architecture, Architecture & Design Studio, Chennai, India by KSM Architecture is highly commended by the judges, who felt that the architects’ own office had clearly delivered 18 years of design thought.  They specifically applauded it for being “humanely and profoundly sustainable”.
 
The three category winners were announced at the end of day one at INSIDE – World Festival of Interiors, and will be followed by a further six category winners, to be revealed tomorrow. The nine category winners will then go head-to-head on the final day of the event this Friday to be named World Interior of the Year 2017.
 
As well as the INSIDE Awards programme, visitors to the festival are able to experience an in-depth talks programme exploring this year’s theme of ‘Performance’, exploring how the individual relates to interior space and how material, colour, light and sound contribute to creating high performing interiors. Today’s events included INSIDE’s own Creative Director Nigel Coates who spoke of the special language of performance; Annabel Karim Kassar (AKK Architects) who spoke of interiors as a performance; Virginia Lung (One Plus Partnership) who talked of design in the context of a movie viewing experience; Shabbar Sagarwala (Eight Inc) and Shanwei Weng (AN Design) on the leisure and pleasure of retail, and Koray Malhan (Koleksiyon) who spoke of his inspirations and the philosophy behind Koleksiyon designs.

Press, image and interview requests:
Caro Communications:
Gloria Roberts – [email protected]
Miriam Mandel – [email protected]
 
About INSIDE – World Festival of Interiors 
Held in Berlin from 15-17 November alongside World Architecture Festival, INSIDE is where the global design community meets to be inspired by the latest and greatest in global interior design and architecture. Over three days INSIDE shines a spotlight on the people, projects and developments that are changing the face of global interiors. At INSIDE’s heart is a global awards programme, which will be judged by more than 20 distinguished designers and editors from around the world. Finalists that are shortlisted across nine categories will present their project in person to international judging panels. After a hard-fought battle, one practice will win the ultimate accolade of World Interior of the Year, which will be presented at a Gala Dinner awards ceremony on the evening of Friday 17 November.
 
Award categories:

• Bars & Restaurants
• Civic, Culture & Transport
• Creative Re-use
• Display
• Health & Education
• Hotels
• Offices
• Residential
• Retail