PG Bison’s annual 1.sixoneeight Student Design Competition and Awards 2010 called on interior design and architecture students to design a concept “store of the future” for home retail outlet @home. The challenge was to create a retail interior suited to a fast-paced and ever-changing environment while incorporating the Golden Ratio.
Mia Jordaan was the overall winner of the competition with her futuristic concept store inspired by the armadillo. A BA degree student at Greenside Design Center in Johannesburg, the competition brief was part of student curriculum and Jordaan was inspired to fully apply herself.
Jordaan’s design took its cue from various natural elements. The biggest challenge, she says, was “translating the sources of inspiration into a concept that corresponded to the client brief”. Key concepts that Jordaan considered in the design includes fluidity, flexibility and “heralding product and brand above all else”.
The creation of proportion and synergy between elements is what Jordaan considers the essence of the Golden Ratio. “One of the basic concepts of my design is synergy which, in summary, is the combination of elements so that their combined effect is greater than their individual effect,” Jordaan says.
The application of the Golden Ratio is particularly apparent in the exterior shell of Jordaan’s design as it also works as adjustable shelving on the interior of the store. “The correlation between the exterior shell and the interior shelving creates a perfect and proportionate synergy between all of the other elements in the design,” Jordaan says.
In April 2011 Jordaan will be attending the 50th anniversary of the Milan Furniture Fair as part of her prize.
