Guardian launches Student Design Challenge focusing on interior applications for Clarity™ anti-reflective glass

Bertrange, Luxembourg, February 4, 2016 – Glass has the ability to combine light, transparency, clarity, security and beauty with functionality - and already helps to create comfortable and inspiring environments. With some creative imagination, what can it achieve in the years ahead?

To answer this question, Guardian Industries' Glass Group in Europe, a leading supplier of float glass and fabricated glass products for commercial, residential, interior and transportation applications, has launched a new design competition. The contest aims to inspire young designers in the use of a material that goes beyond its perceived limits.

The Guardian Student Design Challenge 2016 (www.guardiandesignchallenge.com) invites design students to submit creative ideas for using Guardian Clarity™ anti-reflective glass for interiors at home, at work and/or at events.

The challenge:

create ideas for innovative use of anti-reflective glass
deliver inspiration to the interior design & architectural community
focus on the functionality of the glass application
build on the performance of anti-reflective glass

The Guardian Student Design Challenge 2016 represents an outstanding opportunity for the next generation of professionals to present their ideas to a world-leading innovator in glass material technology and to an international jury, while gaining recognition as talented designers.

For the competition, they are encouraged to explore the following themes:

Living -- Objects that integrate the needs of the individual and those of the family unit at home;
Working -- Products that help support business activities in an attractive, comfortable and efficient manner;
Playing -- Products that improve the experience of the audience by providing unhindered views, as well as protection, in a cultural and/or leisure environment.

An experienced panel of professionals - comprising Guardian representatives and other experts from the glass industry and design community - will form the competition's jury. They will assess the entries based on:

Innovation level
Functionality
Use of Guardian Clarity glass
Aesthetics
User value
Realization potential

Once participating students have identified a new application opportunity, they will be able to use Guardian's online resources - such as processing information and material specification datasheets - to accelerate the steps needed to develop their idea into a fully working design concept.

Guardian is offering impressive prizes to the winners, reflecting both the level of importance and quality expectation of this competition.

The jury will select 3 to 5 finalists who will compete for the following prizes:

1st Prize = 10.000 euros
2nd Prize = 5.000 euros
3rd Prize = 2.500 euros

Additionally, Guardian will display the winning designs on its stand at the Glasstec exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany, from September 20-23, 2016. This will enable the winners to interact with an international and professional audience.

Furthermore, Guardian will publicly recognise the prize winners at a press conference during the Glasstec exhibition, and will award Certificates of Achievement to each of the finalists.

Registration is now open via the Guardian Student Design Challenge website at www.guardiandesignchallenge.com, and all entries must be submitted by June 30. The jurors will review the entries and choose the finalists by August 1. They then will select the winners on September15, and those winners will be announced at the Glasstec show on September 20.

For more details, go to: www.guardiandesignchallenge.com.