The annual KOŁO contest for conceptual design of the facility with public toilet function, organized by Geberit in Poland, always arouses great interest among beginning architects and architecture students.
With great pleasure we announce the start of the 23rd edition of the competition. Tatra National Park became a partner of the competition, which chose the Chochołowska Valley for the place of the project.
The competition draws attention to the shortage of public toilets in Poland and the often disappointing conditions of public toilets. For over twenty years, thanks to the organizer, partners and authors of the most interesting entries, modern, functional and aesthetic toilets have been built in many places in Poland.
This year's partner is the Tatra National Park. The area of Huciska Glade in Chocholowska Valley, the location of the projected toilet, was chosen not without reason - Szymon Ziobrowski, the TPN director decided to gradually replace portable toilets with stationary ones. Among others in Chocholowska Valley there are now portable toilets and the trail is one of the most popular in the Tatra Mountains. Stationary toilets are a more ecological and aesthetically pleasing solution, they also significantly affect the comfort of tourists visiting the Chochołowska Valley in large numbers.
Toilet near the trail
The competition is addressed to architects and architecture students. Their task will be to design a public toilet with a utility room for the Tatra National Park, available for tourists in the area of the Huciska Glade in the Chocholowska Valley. The concept has to fit into the environment, refer to local tradition, culture, nature, history, in the project must be used Geberit and / or KOŁO brand products. It is important to use solutions allowing access to the facility to all groups of customers,
including tourists with special needs, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, or carers with small children.
or carers with small children. It will also be important to design in the spirit of sustainable development (use of natural and environmentally friendly materials, application of renewable energy sources, water recovery, design of solutions aimed at changing tourists' non-ecological behaviour).
Start under the watchful eye of experts
The bathroom design contest is one of the oldest initiatives of its kind in Poland. Over the years, hundreds of designers and architects have participated in it. For many of them it was a beginning and the gateway to a career. Each year the jury includes authorities from the design industry. The concepts submitted for this year's edition of the competition will be evaluated by a jury consisting of: Dr hab. inż. arch. Ewa Kuryłowicz - Head of the Department of Design and Theory of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, vice-president of APA Kuryłowicz & Associates architectural studio, SARP Warsaw judge, Robert Konieczny – architect, founder of KWK Promes, Magdalena Federowicz-Boule - president and creative director of Tremend, secretary of Warsaw Branch of SARP, SARP judge, Prof. Jan Sikora – lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, founder of the design studio Sikora Wnętrza, Przemo Łukasik – architect, co-founder of the Medousagroup design studio, Aleksandra Kozłowska - winner of the "Projekt Łazienki 2018" competition, currently working with KWK Promes, Przemysław Powalacz – Geberit sp. z o. o. Managing Director, Filip Zięba - Deputy Director of the Tatra National Park, Ewa Holek-Krzysztof from the Tatra National Park Communication and Publishing Department, Agnieszka Grzegorczyk - representative of the Kościelisko Municipality, Jan Karpiel-Bułecka senior – architect, popularizer of highland folklore, Marcin Rząsa – sculptor from Zakopane.
The jury will select the best design from among the submitted works and will award distinctions and special prizes. Internet users will also have the opportunity to select the concept they like best,
by voting on Geberit's Facebook profile. The total prize pool is more than PLN 50,000.
Competition schedule
The competition rules with all technical and material guidelines for designs and locations, details on how to submit entries, and the schedule are available at https://konkurskolo.pl/materialy-do-pobrania/. The deadline for submitting projects is October 11, 2021, but it is worth getting familiar with the regulations earlier - questions about the competition can be asked via the form at www.konkurskolo.pl until June 7, 2021.
The winners of the "2021 Bathroom Design " competition will be announced in November 2021 during a ceremonial gala - depending on the situation - in a larger group or online.
The secretary of the "2021 Bathroom Design" competition on behalf of the Geberit brand is Justyna Zborowska.
Poster design: Ola Woldańska-Płocińska
More information: https://konkurskolo.pl/
Regulations of XXIII KOŁO conceptual contest "2021 Bathroom Design": https://konkurskolo.pl/materialy-do-pobrania/
Information about the KOŁO brand
For over 50 years, KOŁO has been a leading producer and distributor of bathroom equipment products
products in Poland. In 2015, the brand became part of the Geberit Group - the European leader in sanitary technology. The product range of Geberit Group includes a line of sanitary systems (installation systems, cisterns, washbasin faucets, flushing systems, siphons, washing toilets), bathroom equipment (sanitary ceramics, bathroom furniture, cabins and bathtubs) and pipe systems (water supply systems and sewage systems). The KOŁO brand includes bathroom ceramics and furniture, acrylic bathtubs and shower trays, shower cabins and installation systems. Under the KOŁO brand a number of pro-social and pro-ecological activities are also undertaken. For over 20 years, the company has been organizing a competition for young architects and students "Projekt Łazienki", whose aim is to draw attention to the problem of public toilet deficit in Polish cities. As a part of this socially recognized initiative, among others, the Beach Pavilion in Warsaw, toilet in Kazimierz Dolny and toilet at Mogilskie Roundabout in Krakow were built. The KOŁO brand is also a patron of many cultural events. Modern showrooms of Geberit and KOŁO in Warsaw and Krakow are not only places where you can get acquainted with the company's product offer. They host interesting exhibitions and meetings devoted to design and architecture, as well as training for distributors, fitters and designers.
