The Deca Award jury, the main architecture and interior design competition in Brazil, announces the winners of the Students and Professionals groups of the 27th edition at an event for guests at Faena, in São Paulo. The event featured Rodrigo Santoro and Mel Fronckowiak as hosts and a special performance by singer Mariana Rios at the party.
Youth talents from all regions of the country submitted projects for bathrooms, kitchens, and products in the Students group and competed for the Career Award. In the Professionals group, renowned names competed for the Inspiration Award with projects executed in the Residential Bathroom, CASACOR Bathroom, Residential Kitchen, CASACOR Kitchen, Corporate, Product categories, and the newly launched category, “Living Well Spaces”. This last category challenged professionals to think about spaces in a more sustainable way, highlighting design as a tool for reconciliation with the future, and promoting well-being for the user and the environment.
The best projects, based on criteria such as originality, creativity, and space utilization, were selected by a jury chaired by the award-winning architect Gianfranco Vannucchi. Names like Allex Colontonio, Jader Almeida, Ricardo Bello Dias, Paula Neder, Thais Lauton, Clarissa Schneider, and Tuca Reines formed the renowned jury.
The competition is organized by DEXperience, a relationship program with specifiers from Deca, which also includes the brands Duratex, Castelatto, Ceusa, and Durafloor, as well as Portinari, a supporter of the award.
Meet the winners of the Students group
The student Renato Togni, from Poços de Caldas (MG), was the winner in the Kitchen category, with the Umbu Kitchen: Celebrating Brazilian Culture. A invitation to connect with nature and Brazilian culture, celebrating its diversity through gastronomy and hospitality, the Umbu Kitchen embodies the Brazilian identity, integrating natural elements into the design that harmonizes with the surroundings. Wood and flag green MDF stand out, bringing warmth and color to the environment. Its openings connect occupants to the serenity of the exterior nature. A symbolic pillar represents the strength and identity of the space.
The student Raquel Amim, from Vila Velha (ES), was the winner in the Bathroom category, with the Éden Bathing Room, a place of light, coziness, intimacy, tranquility, relaxation, and return to origins. The materials chosen evoke nature, with aesthetic roots in natural stones, wood, vegetation, and water. These elements combined with adornments and mirrors reinforce the theme and provide a space entirely designed for the personal well-being of the residents. The integration of the environment with the outside area, through openings, allows a visual connection with nature, prioritizing untouched beauty and the sensation of being inserted in a perfect refuge. The standout feature of the project is Deca products, which, in every detail, work harmoniously to recreate the essence of the Garden of Eden.
The student Victtória Leonel, from Itapetininga (SP), won in the Product category, with the theme Arco Shower. It was designed to combine contemporary elegance with functionality. Its design features two parallel showers, connected by a central arch, which adds a visual focal point and elevates the bathroom design, providing a sense of unity and transforming the simplicity of a shower into a unique and intimate moment.
Meet the winners of the Professionals group
The architect Aline Borges is the winner in the CASACOR Bathroom category, with the project Memories, which revisits her references to Minas Gerais through design. From the concept that living is to be in constant movement and that dwelling is to be in eternal transformation, Aline’s projects are born, full of life, fluidity, stories, and memories.
To participate in the largest architecture show in Latin America, the architect made references from her home, in Minas Gerais. From the poetry of The Grande Sertão Veredas to the bucolic beauty of the caatinga vegetation. From the aridity of taipa de pilão and adobe walls to the charm of birdsong. From the techniques of primary architecture to the contemporary signature of her current projects. In every detail of the environment, there’s something of Aline, her history, and her life in motion.
Denis Joelsons won in the Residential Kitchen category, with the project Terrace House Kitchen, which sees the kitchen less as a utilitarian space and more as a space for socializing. Here, the floor has a dark tone reminiscent of the earth, the walls are painted in an earthy red that contrasts with the green of the woods. As it moves away from the ground, the house becomes brighter, culminating in the translucent membrane of wired glass that marks its access facade.
Danielle Bellini is the winner in the Corporate category. Her project Geometric for “child center” uses architecture as a teaching tool through a playful game of shapes. The soapstone countertop, in gray, was designed asymmetrically to accommodate children of all ages in a school. The architect used four round sinks, with the Decamatic Eco 1175C high-billed faucet with automatic closing, whose shape follows the design of the mirrors. The horizontality of the countertop, in composition with the geometric cladding used on some walls, made the space bold.
The NJ+ Architecture office, with a team composed of architects Nildo José, Virginia Lopes, Danielle Groszmann, Marcelo Rizzo, Diego Guido, Maira Ayumi, Tabatta Isecke, Anna Clara, Pedro Olavo, and Gabriel Lava João, won in the CASACOR Kitchen category, with the Ñe’é House project, reflecting the blend of international design trends with Brazilian essence.
Kesley Santiago is the winner in the Living Well Spaces category, with the Origin Bathroom, referencing the first shelter of man and the intrinsic connection with nature, a space where the past and the future meet in a harmonious reconciliation. By returning to man’s first shelter, the cave, we celebrate the simplicity and beauty of natural and rudimentary materials. The architect’s proposal not only honors the origin of human life but also points to a future where sustainability and connection with nature are fundamental.
Giuliano Marchiorato wins in the Product category, with the No. 1 Urinal project, which brings a proposal of pure, minimalist design, with purpose, privileging privacy and well-being. In 1917, a urinal changed the course of art, with Duchamp. In 2024, the architect’s inspiration is to change the course of Brazilian urinal design. Before, bathrooms full of partitions. Today, bathrooms that are lighter, airy, and beautiful. Between form and function, the project was born from a formal angle design, to provide privacy without the need for a partition, meaning the object itself protects the user. The inspiration came from the strong geometric lines present in Brazilian modernism.
Evandro Melato and Pabrício Amaral are the winners in the Residential Bathroom category, with the project Tuia Bath, reinforcing the idea that we are nature itself. Being nature is living in symbiosis with everything that is also part of it. It is mimicking its landscapes with respect and devotion. Thus, the project, which floats on a lake and finds shelter in the dense Atlantic Forest, is a perfect example of architecture as an instrument to be nature.
Career Award and Inspiration Award
The winners of the Students group receive the Career Award, with a high-performance notebook and software license combo to boost the start of their careers.
For the Professionals group, the winners receive the Inspiration Award, which is a trip to Cape Town, capital of South Africa, one of the most beautiful and multicultural cities in Africa, a reference in design.
In addition, the winners of the Students group and finalists of the Professionals group participated in an immersive tour of the Deca Porcelain and Metal factories. Participation in the Deca Award also offers points for the DEXperience, a relationship program with specifiers.
Award Ceremony
Newton Lima, columnist for Casa e Jardim magazine and brand consultant for decor, covered the 27th Deca Award ceremony. Watch the highlights of the night:
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