Roca adapted the traditional theme of the competition, focused on solutions for the bathroom of the future, to give credit to innovative ideas around sanitation, hygiene and wellbeing in an environment deeply affected by COVID-19.
The international design competition jumpthegap®, organized by Roca in collaboration with BCD, Barcelona Design Centre, has revealed the winners of this special 2020 edition, focused on new products or services related to sanitation, hygiene and wellbeing in an environment deeply affected by COVID-19.
Starting with the first competition held in 2004 and throughout eight editions, jumpthegap® has supported the work of young architects and designers through the recognition of innovative projects in the scope of the bathroom space. On this occasion, in view of the situation caused by the expansion of coronavirus, the competition has widened its focus to include ideas that allow for perfect personal hygiene conditions in any environment and therefore contribute to prevent the spread of coronavirus and to disseminate the importance of keeping optimum personal hygiene under any circumstances.
The five selected projects in this special edition of jumpthegap® are:
“Bubble Bump” (Alina Pshenichnikova, Russia): a device that automatically releases liquid disinfectant in the shape of soap bubbles to ensure that children keep their hands clean and free of any risk of contagion.
“E-Tapis” (Hao Wang and Hanyuan Hu, China): smart shoe sole cleaner using liquid disinfectant and UV light.
“Lux” (Juan Restrepo, Netherlands): smart disinfecting system for public bathroom spaces by means of UV light.
“OM” (Rafael Vinader, Spain): sanitary totem with automatic dispenser of hydroalcoholic disinfectant gel and infrared thermometer.
UVClean (Lidia Grits, Italy and Ekaterina Epifanova, Russia): faucet equipped with a UV-light cabin to disinfect objects such as mobile phones while the user washes his/her hands.
All selected projects have been awarded with a prize of 1,000 €.
The jury of the competition, made up of renowned professionals of the fields of architecture and design, has highlighted the effort made by all participants to integrate functionality and design, with feasible (not conceptual) projects, mainly aimed at public spaces. The quality of the submitted projects is even more valuable if we take into account the reduction of the submission time to only 15 days. 297 projects by 1,567 participants from 94 countries have been submitted this year.
The jury of this special edition of jumpthegap® has been made up of Carl Hensman, head of the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (U.S.A.); Deborah Seward, director for Europe of the United Nations Information Centre (Belgium); Luciano Kruk, founder of Luciano Kruk Arquitectos (Argentina); Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat, co-founders of WantedDesign (U.S.A.); Isabel Roig, executive director of the BCD – Barcelona Design Center (Spain); Xavier Torras, Roca Communication and Brand Manager (Spain); Jordi Corral, Roca Global Innovation Project Manager (Spain); and Ernest Hernandez, Roca Design Manager (Spain).
In all editions held so far (eight standard and one special COVID19), jumpthegap® has had more than 26,000 participants from 150 countries and has consolidated as a platform where international design and architecture students and professionals can show their talent by providing innovative solutions.
