Dulux Colour Awards 2023
New Zealand Student
This category recognises paint specifications by New Zealand architecture or interior design students who are attending or completed their studies within the past 12 months.
New Zealand Student Winner
Augustina Binyamin
Victoria University of Wellington
The Canopy Bench
About the project
The Canopy Bench is designed to emulate the forest where trees come together to create a canopy to perch. The project explores the linearity of a tree trunk that expands to create the forest canopy. By taking design influence from the forest, a certain natural context is abstracted and used as a blueprint for design.
Bringing together the image and perception of nature through the forest. The neutral Dulux Waiau Bay was chosen for this bench. Despite it being designed derivative of the forest, the idea is to allow the form and structure to speak of this design influence.
What the judges said
Although inspired by the forest, a literal colour for the Canopy Bench was eschewed in favour of the clarity of Dulux Waiau Bay. This design decision allows the purity of the bench’s form to speak for itself and its singularity is so effective that it sparked rigorous discussion about the role and use of colour in design, ultimately proving that it doesn’t have to be a bright colour to stand out. This in itself shows a maturity and conviction that belies the fact that its creator is a student,” says judge Andrea Lucena-Orr.
“Notably, the bench’s clear form is so architectural that without a scale reference it could be interpreted as a built element of much greater scope, such as a canopy atop a building. We congratulate the designer for this exquisite concept and resolution.