aim and theme of the contest
Jumpthegap is an International Design Contest promoted by Roca with the collaboration of BCD Barcelona Design Centre that is looking for new, innovative and sustainable concepts for the bathroom space.
We understand the innovation concept as the anticipation of users’ new desires and needs, as well as (why not?) the transformation of dreams and desires into reality.
The sustainability is one of the most important principles to take into account when innovating in the bathroom space. In the era we are living, we have to grantee products oriented to the saving of water, energy and resources.
Jumpthegap offers the opportunity to young designers or architects and design or architecture students to create and design innovative sustainable solutions for the bathroom and related products. This is the evidence that Roca is betting for the support of the new generations of designers and architects.
This sixth edition of Roca International Design Contest is aimed at creative people who think towards the future whilst designing today.
More than 50% of the products that we will use in 10 years have not yet been manufactured, much less designed. So what will they be like?
A large part of those products incorporate concepts and technologies that we may not even be able to imagine today... or maybe we can. Jumpthegap starts from the assumption that young creative people design today whilst thinking about tomorrow; a tomorrow when the limitations of today will not apply and when new needs, architecture, technologies and products will emerge which will help us to improve people’s lives by bringing them more well-being, hygiene and comfort.
These are designs that can bring forth their vision of conceptually innovative bathroom products and solutions: new products, new spaces and/or new uses and functions.
Inspiration Insights
We do not really know how will truly be the future of the design for the bathroom space, but there are a number of undeniable drivers that will shape the society of the next future. We would like to transmit them with the intention to serve as inspiration to develop your projects:
1- SUSTAINABILITY
The so called “Eco products” must be better in every sense. We see that even that the environmental concern of the consumers is growing; they will only adopt sustainable practices if they receive direct, visible and measurable benefits. Being sustainable must be convenient: it must require little or no effort, and it must be very clear what the impact of every action is. Being sustainable must be profitable: it must make the consumer to save resources (i.e.: money) and it must be measurable.
2- AGEING POPULATION
Bathrooms designed for dependent people have to facilitate the execution of routine tasks. The user should be able to perform them without additional knowledge and / or special skills in order to minimize the time spent on non-pleasant activities. New products must create the perception of safety and should delay the moment when external help is required to perform the bathroom basic activities. An appealing design and simplicity of the interface should make all special features look desirable.
3- HOMING
The bathroom experience is a very personal moment and, ideally, the bathroom should therefore be your private one. If it is not possible, it should at least welcome you in a cosy atmosphere, warm and comfortable.
Homing doesn’t necessarily have to be deployed in the high-end products only, but also in the mainstream segment.
4- SURPRISING EXPERIENCES
The raise of hyper-emotional consumption brings along the need to live new surprising multisensory experiences. The value of objects decrease and the increasing value of time itself make the consumers search for emotionally intense experiences that may impact on their different senses.
5- AUTOMATIZATION
Technology will be welcome in the bathroom in the same way that it is welcome in other rooms, as far as it:
- strengthens the feeling of “having things done for you” and makes your life simpler
- minimizes the time spent in non-pleasant activities (like cleaning)
- leaves the bathroom ready for the next user with the minimum effort.
Smart products that eliminate the routine actions like switching on devices, setting up working conditions, opening and closing lids, etc. Intelligent products that understand what you expect from them and react accordingly.
participants
The contest has two categories:
- Young designers or architects,
- Design or architecture students.
The contest is open to applicants from every country born from 1 January 1980 onwards.
Entries may be individual or from a group of two professionals or two students. Mixed groups are not accepted.
Each person or group may participate in one project only.
Judges, their families, their studios or design teams may not compete. The same applies to members of pre-selection committee.
registration
Registration for the contest is free of charge and will be available from 28 September 2014 on the Internet (www.jumpthegap.net) and can be accessed through the registration page.
All participants must submit their application to take part in the contest by 13:00 hours (GMT+1) on 9 March 2015.
Important note: When two people submit a group entry, both group members must complete the registration form displayed on the screen.
By registering for the contest, participants confirm that they accept these rules.
Any incomplete or incorrect information or any registration application that does not fulfill the required conditions will be considered as null and void.
presentation of project
Important note: Projects must be absolutely anonymous: they cannot contain any names or personal details about the author/s, as all this information has been already provided through the registration.
All the texts included in the project must be written in English.
The competing project must be submitted in:
- One pdf file, containing not more than 2x A3 size pages.
- Maximum size of the pdf file must be 1,5MB.
- The first page must include the TITLE of the project, a text with the description of the project, and the main images.
- The text must not have more than 600 words, divided into three sections:
· WHAT? What is the project about? For who?
· HOW? Brief description (How it works, materials, ...)
· WHY? Why it will be relevant in the future
Any background information or additional details of the project have to be placed in the second page.
Participants certify that the design is their own, original work and that it has never been published before. Designs must not have received any award in, nor have been presented for any other competition at the time that they are entered for the Jumpthegap Contest.
The organizers will not, without the written agreement of the participant, alter or amend in any way, the project submitted.
submission date
The projects must be submitted to the contest website by 13:00 hours (GMT+2) on 13 April 2015.
independent moderator
An independent moderator has been appointed to act amongst the organizer, the jury and the entrants. For any question, please contact
Ms. Cristina Castaño - jumpthegap@bcd.es
selection process
Pre-selection committee
In late April 2015, a pre-selection committee made up of representatives of the Roca Innovation Lab will select 30 projects from amongst the entries received, which will be presented to the jury.
Requested material for 30 preselected:
The finalists will be asked to send within 48 hours of notification:
- A JPG, PNG or GIF format copy of their degree, certificate or diploma, or a copy of the school's matriculation document if they are students. In the event of group participation, documents of both members will be sent.
- A copy of their passport or National Document of Identity.
jury
The jury is made up of the following professionals:
- President: Ma Yansong, Architect, Beijing (to be confirmed)
- Tom Dyckhoff, historian, writer and broadcaster about architecture, cities, design and places, London
- Guta Moura, Co-founder Experimenta, Lisbon
- Rafael de La-Hoz, Architect, Madrid
- Marcelo Rosembaum, Designer, Sao Paolo
- Isabel Roig, Managing Director, BCD Barcelona Design Centre and President, BEDA (The Bureau of European Design Associations)
- Josep Congost, Design Manager of the Roca Innovation Lab, Barcelona
jury criteria
The jury will judge the projects according to the following aspects:
- How well does it meet the overall aim of the Jumpthegap contest? Is it setting new standards for the world to follow? Is it an outstanding idea? Is it breaking new ground for the future? Does it have an “out of the box” approach?
- How attractive it is for a user? Does it look appealing, or welcoming? Does it look friendly to use? Are the benefits to the user (such as e.g.: performance, comfort, safety, ease of use, universal function and access, etc) clearly visible?
- Is the overall idea clearly explained and easy to understand?
- How good is the quality of the deliverables? How carefully is the information presented?, Are the images good?
- Does it look to work in harmony with the environment? Does it look like a great achievement in sustainable design? Does it show an ecologically responsible use of materials and resources (energy and water wise).
The jury will receive a “virtual dossier” with the 30 projects to judge (15 from professionals and 15 from students). They will choose 4 projects from each category, which will be the 8 finalists. Among the finalists they will chose 1 winner from each category.
The jury selection will be performed on-line in early June 2015.
requested material for finalists
- A portrait.
- Finalists will have a “REFINE” period. They will be asked to complete the material presented with e.g.: original or further high resolution images, better quality renders or further details about their project. This additional material must be presented within 10 days after of the notification.
prizes
There are 3 prizes:
- Two winning projects will be chosen, and will receive a prize of €6,000 each, one in the professional category and one in the student category, during the award ceremony in October 2015 at the Roca Madrid Gallery.
- One Special Sustainability Prize will be chosen among the 30 preselected and will receive €3000. This mention will be given by the Roca We are Water Foundation, a Foundation created with the primary purpose to contribute to the awareness of a new culture of water, more caring, fair and sustainable, as well as help in all those areas of the planet disadvantaged by water problems (http://www.wearewater.org).
No account will be taken of the winner(s)’ tax or other obligations with respect to the prize.
An ambitious PR campaign will help to promote the winning and finalist projects and their authors.
The author/s of the winning and finalists projects will be invited to attend the Award ceremony event in Madrid (Spain). Roca will cover travel and accommodation expenses for winning project authors.
If required, the author/s of the winning project will cooperate with Roca’s Design Department on the manufacture of a possible full-size mock-up or specific material to be used in presenting the project during the award ceremony in 2015.
intellectual and industrial property rights
Participants in the contest guarantee to Roca the originality of their respective proposals and that each of them enjoys the unhindered exercise of the intellectual and property rights over their respective proposals.
All intellectual property rights, as well as possible industrial property rights over the projects submitted, belong exclusively to their authors.
Participants are responsible to protect their design submissions by copyright or patent application, prior to submitting them to the competition.
All participants (including the winner/s and finalists) assign to Roca and BCD, the rights for copy, reproduction and publication of the projects submitted to the contest, for all countries in the world and for the maximum period permitted by law in each one of such countries for the purpose of promotion in publications of general interest and/or specialized magazines, as well as in the websites, editions and publications of Roca, and/or BCD Barcelona Design Centre, and also in the contest website.
Exceptionally, participants other than the winner/s and finalists who do not wish to publish their work, they must request it in written form to Roca, before 19 July 2015.
The winning participant/s offer Roca an exclusive option to purchase the rights to exploit the industrial property rights over their respective awarded work which shall be exercised within the first anniversary from the date of the awards ceremony. If this period expires without Roca’s having exercised its purchase option, the author/s of the winning project may freely dispose of intellectual and industrial property rights relating to it. In the event that Roca exercises the aforementioned option, the author’s name must always be mentioned in connection with the design.
In the event that Roca decides to develop the design project for industrial and commercial purposes, Roca shall offer to the author of the project a preemption right to perform such development; should the author not exercise such preemption right, Roca shall be entitled to develop the project itself or to engage the services of a third party to do so.
