Commendation - Environmental Design

The 28th of June was a fabulous day. Arlette and I were nominated for an Environmental Design award from the Architecture Foundation and D&AD Global Student Awards. The event was held in the Old Billingsgate, it is a wonderful venue. It was great to see all of the other nominations in ours and the other categories. I was really excited and proud.



They chucked our fellow nominees and us at the same table for dinner. Tact full or less, I’m not sure- cunning! A bottle or so of wine later and the ceremony began. We were category 16. Arlette looked up at me around the fifth award and said “Erin, I think they are calling out the nominations by order of the catalogue… that means we get commendation, third place.”
“No, no.” I assured her. As I pointed to our work from the table and exclaimed how ours was absolutely, without a doubt, the best. “Have faith!” I hissed. She didn’t look convinced and neither did our competitors.

Category fifteen was up and she was agreeing with the inevitable as I was squeezing her hand shaking my head.
Sixteen.
“Erin and Arlette.”
Well, I had to smile. I couldn’t spit. I was happy. Who cares if it wasn’t first and we didn’t get all the money, or the coveted yellow stubby pencil trophy, or ever lasting fame? I felt, at that moment in time, just like Kate Winslet at the Oscars.
We nearly tripped as we left the stage. And tt was a pencil that interrupted our return back to our seats. A number 2. Our very own yellow pencil!

We received good and interesting feedback from the curator of the Architecture Foundation on our submitted work. “Very poetic.” He said. We were told that the winner’s work does not get made and installed, which would have changed the way we interpreted the brief entirely, but regardless we great evening and met some great people.