The 2007 Next Generation® Design Competition Winner and Runners-Up Announced

The fourth annual Next Generation® event, sponsored by Herman Miller, Maharam, The Mohawk Group, and Sherwin Williams occurred last night at the San Francisco Herman Miller Showroom. Partygoers celebrated the winner of the 2007 Next Generation® Prize—design group Civil Twilight.

Responding to the competition’s theme of “energy”, the San Francisco-based firm Civil Twilight — Anton Willis, Kate Lydon, and Christina Seely—were awarded $10,000 for their project, Lunar Resonant Street Lamps. This re-engineered light has an ultra sensitive photo-cell that responds to the brightness of the night sky, turning on and dimming as needed, cutting down both on unnecessary light pollution and energy consumption. The trio installed a prototype in the Herman Miller showroom and people at last night’s event could dim and brighten the lamp by waving their hands over the sensor. Learn more about the winning team and their project in the May issue of Metropolis.

The 14 Next Generation® runners-up, listed with their entries below, will also be featured with more detailed information in Metropolis issues throughout the year:

Reamon Yu: iSave, an LED display for faucets and showers to make users aware of their water usage, and make them more inclined to save water.

Alberto Villarreal: BrightWalk, a shoe that incorporates piezo-electric transducers and electroluminescent polymers to generate light while the user is walking or running.

Joseph Cory & Eyal Malka: The i-rise: Vertical Dwelling State of Mind; a vertical, multi-story residential unit, with an integrated infrastructure for generating renewable energy, collecting rainwater and treating liquid and solid waste based on zero-environmental impact technologies.

Michael Kirchmann, Mark Igou, and Team SOM: Jewels of Nizam, an elegant metal screen façade for buildings screens rooms from sunlight and is informed by the local culture.

Boris Von Bormann & Nik Hafermaas UberSee: PowerSEED, an artistic sustainable light installation.

Michael Silver: Composite Space, Sustainable Building Applications for Computer Automated Fiber Placement Technology

Andre Dettler: Startup Kitchen, a freestanding kitchen unit that can recycle resources and invites group participation. Energy and waste are recycled.

David Slocombe & Adrian Ashley: Loco-plug & Loco Outlet, Loco for low consumption, saves energy by opening the circuit while electric devices are on standby.

Eric Olsen: Electro-Conductive Gypsum Wallboard, a new building product that pairs flat-wire technology with fire resistant gypsum core.

Elizabeth Redmond: PowerLeap, a piezoelectric urban flooring system.

Jerad Tinnin: Luminet, an LED desk light with an interesting package lifecycle.

Martina Decker: SmartScreen, a thermo-responsive screen made of shape-memory polymers that open and close regulating heat transfer into a building.

Dawn Danby, Jyoti Stephens, Mary Rick, Bainbridge Graduate Institute: Beeline, a virtual marketplace for local food distribution

Doug Hecker & Martha Skinner: Super Absorber, a new kind of highway wall barrier system using photocatalitic cement performs the traditional roles of reducing sound & light pollution but also absorbs airborne pollutants.

Be sure to stop by the Metropolis booth at ICFF (May 19-22, NYC) and the 2007 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (November 7-9, Chicago) to see the projects from the winner and runners-up.