Kölner Design Preis 2024

The Cologne Design Award is one of the most coveted and most highly endowed awards in Europe for young graduates of design degree programmes. It honours the most innovative and outstanding graduation projects from Cologne's universities - the design of the future. The award will be presented for the 18th time in 2024.

A total of 43 final theses were nominated for the award this year by the following Cologne universities: ecosign - Academy of Design, Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, KHM - Academy of Media Arts, KISD - Cologne International School of Design, Rheinische Hochschule (RH).

The winners of the Cologne Design Award 2024 are

1st prize (€12,000)
Cows cause trouble (Theresa Tropschuh, KISD)
In addition to CO2 pollution of the atmosphere, inorganic nutrient pollution of water bodies as a result of factory farming is one of the greatest environmental burdens. In a transdisciplinary research process, Theresa Tropschuh has developed and realised a photobioreactor in which excess nitrates and phosphorus are converted into energy-rich, organic biomass with the help of microalgae and bacteria. As CO2 is also transformed into oxygen in the process, the work ‘Cows make trouble’ contributes to significantly reducing the emissions generated in agriculture. In the jury's opinion, the work is outstanding in terms of relevance, concept and execution.

2nd prize (€ 9,000)
Pain in the system (Serin Gatzweiler, KISD)
Gender equality is not only a question of language and how we treat each other, but also an urgent task for product development. There, the male standardised body has always been the measure of all things. In her thesis ‘Pain in the system’, Serin Gatzweiler draws attention to the resulting, life-threatening undesirable developments in the field of pharmaceutical research and production, both in terms of content and form. With the help of oversized packaging and package inserts, the scale of the problem becomes clearly visible. Shocking, reflective and cleverly realised, as the jury emphasised in its statement.

3rd prize (€ 6,000)
The Hands Problem (Kristina Lenz, Alex Simon Klug, KHM)
Until recently, AI-generated images of people could be recognised by their deformed hands, which often have six fingers. With ‘The Hands Problem’, Kristina Lenz and Alex Simon capture this bug as a historical moment. In several steps, they transform the AI-generated images into three-dimensional cast concrete slabs. In this way, artefacts reminiscent of ancient body fossils are created. According to the jury, the archaeological imprints of this AI development stage are not only aesthetically convincing, but also subtly remind us of our inimitable uniqueness, even if the hand problem seems to have been solved in the meantime.

3rd prize (€ 6,000)
Memories from Above (Jannik Bussmann, KISD)
Our perception and assessment of world events is often based on a regional mono-perspective, which is also due to the fact that views from other regions of the world are not so easily accessible to us. In his thesis ‘Memories from Above’, Jannik Bussmann uses various analytical methods and technologies such as remote sensing, geographic imaging and ChatGPT to gain new insights from publicly accessible data available worldwide. The result is 60 memory landscapes that provide us with an unusual spatial dimension of events reported in various news programmes. At the same time, this enables a new critical categorisation of media reporting.

Special Mentions (2 x € 2,500)
Libraries inspire (Maxime Ridzewski, KISD)
In times like ours, when democracy is under particular strain, the so-called third places take on a special significance: places of encounter that are safe and need to be secured.With her project ‘Inspiring Libraries’, Maxime Ridzewski directs our attention to so-called area libraries, i.e. libraries in rural areas. rural areas.An analogue toolkit developed in cooperation with librarians is intended to enable them to identify individual needs and develop future perspectives. A digital platform enables libraries to network with each other. In the jury's opinion, raising awareness of these third places deserves an award.

Univercity (Anke Kirchhoff, ecosign Academy of Design)
The construction, operation and demolition of buildings currently cause around 40 per cent of CO2 emissions throughout the world. The urgently needed decarbonisation will therefore not succeed without the involvement of the construction industry, including architecture.It is therefore all the more astonishing that sustainability is only slowly finding its way into the curriculum of architecture degree programmes. With ‘Univercity’, Anke Kirchhoff has developed an analogue toolkit and an app that promotes international exchange and sensitises budding architects to climate-resilient and resource-conserving construction.An important, long overdue project.

Prize from Cologne Business (€ 6,000)
Artist's cabin (Rike Hoppse, KHM)
One of the qualities of design is its ability to provide a stage for other disciplines. Rike Hoppse has created a mobile, public space for various occasions with the ‘Künstler*innenkabine’ - a former flower sales trolley. Whether as a podium, workshop or exhibition space, the ‘Künstler*innenkabine’ can be used flexibly. This creates a temporary setting for unconventional encounters. The low-threshold utilisation of the cabin and the interactive and participatory approach immediately appealed to the jury.

An independent jury selected the winning projects from all the proposed works on 25 October 2024. 

The Cologne Design Award is generously sponsored by the Winkler Foundation with €38,000. The collector and benefactor Prof Dr Winkler established the award to promote young talent in 2008 together with Prof Michael Erlhoff, founding dean of the Department of Design at Cologne University of Applied Sciences (now KISD - Köln International School of Design). As part of the Cologne Design Award, a special prize will also be awarded by KölnBusiness.

The exhibition with all nominated works will take place from 22 November to 3 December 2024 at the Museum of Applied Arts Cologne (MAKK). Admission is free. The Cologne Design Award and the associated exhibition are organised by students of the KISD - Köln International School of Design.

Here you will find all nominees Kölner Design Preis 2024 (koelnerdesignpreis.de)