DHAHRAN: Three projects from Saudi Arabia and one from Bahrain were selected recently as recipients of the annual Tanween Challenge, hosted by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra).

At the six-day creative competition last week competitors displayed their final group projects at the Dhahran headquarters before a judging panel. Each project tried to solve a nature-related problem, in four categories: pavilion design; graphic design; furniture design; and fashion design. The four award-winning projects will be developed for commercial production.
Winners were selected from 80 participants who answered an open call for designers from the Middle East and North Africa. Tanween, Ithra’s flagship program since 2019, has become an integral part of fostering the thriving creative community in the region.
Sultan Al-Badran, creative programs developer at Ithra’s Ideas Lab said: “The winning projects today will receive support for the next couple of months by Tanween Challenges’ production partners to further develop the winners’ innovative ideas into real solutions. 
“The winning projects are a reflection of the individual capabilities and talent of each of the winners, who will now take their projects to market,” Al-Badran said. “Guided by knowledge partners Vanina, NYXO, LEAD, and Data is Beautiful, who provided support throughout the six-day event, all participants are creatives with immense potential who can continue their path of learning and challenge themselves to further develop their projects.”
Winning projects
Graphic Design Challenge: The project “Eyes Wide Open” won in this category. The team collected air pollution-related death figures between 1990 and 2021, and used two digital eyes to demonstrate the data — one representing the past and the other representing the present.
“The eyes were assembled to be facing each other, emphasizing the continuous influence of generational knowledge, values, and actions for future generations. The project aims to show that everyone’s contribution has effects on the environment,” Zahra Mansour, Deema Albuolayan and Fatima Bukhamseen said of their award-winning project.
Pavilion Design Challenge: “The project ‘The Determinal’ uses a steel structure in an artistic way to represent a deconstructed airport, applying the architectural school of deconstructionism,” said project winners Mohamed Alghoneimy, Turki Aljandal, Muzun bin Rubayan and Mahmood Alkawi, said.
The winning participants gathered different movement paths that take place simultaneously at airports — including the movements of people and aircraft — for the purpose of displaying the experience of movement that occurs in airports.

Centered around the concept of air as a communal lifeline, the “City Breathe” challenge asks: How can we repurpose industrial waste to construct a pavilion that purifies urban air to revitalize local communities and ecologies?

“This pavilion is envisioned as a nomadic structure, designed to be easily mounted and dismounted in various urban areas. Beyond its primary function as an air purifier, the pavilion aims to activate public space and foster interaction between city dwellers — both human and non-human. Constructed from industrial waste, it challenges us to rethink our relationship with materials and the environment,” they said in a statement. 
Furniture Design Challenge: The bench design “Bloom” was created with nature in mind — and as its muse. The design uses an organic shape and includes a shaded seating area and a space in which birds and cats can drink and feed. Abdullah Nasser Al-Battat, Ahmed Al-Arqan, Nader Al-Metairi, Nawaf Al-Ghamdi and Mohammed Al-Bayyabi were the winners of the challenge.
“Using additive manufacturing technology and locally sourced waste-based materials, participants are asked to craft provocative solutions that activate public spaces, while fostering co-habitation between human and non-human urban inhabitants. Through the power of design and innovation, we aim to create public interventions that enrich the lives of all species that call our cities home,” is how Ithra described the challenge criteria. 
Fashion Design Challenge: Inspired by the Arabian Gulf coast, the project “MRG” won this category, using sea salt and fish scales as their materials. The biodegradable bag “reflects the clarity of the sea, which is cherished not only for its beauty, but also for the stories it carries, reminding us of the deep connection we have to the sea and the importance of protecting it,” said winners Ghayda Al-Nasser, Ebaa Al-Taweel and Rawan Al-Salem of their project.
“Our goal is to turn them (the projects) into solutions that may have a positive impact on our relationship with nature, with the opportunity to display them in Ithra’s Tanween Conference in November,” Al-Badran concluded.
The Tanween Conference is at Ithra headquarters from Nov. 1-4, 2024.