Prize winners professional bachelors

Fien Meizler

Hannah De Bie

Sustainability prize — Daikin

Fien Meizler (interior design)

The jury wishes to give a boost to Fien Meizier. The jury hopes that Fien will continue in the direction she has now taken with her undergraduate thesis Terramo.

Terramo consists of various mobiles made from different materials, working as much as possible with natural and found materials. In the work, Fien seeks a balance between natural and non-natural materials. Among other things, Fien processed coffee grounds, algae and other waste streams into bioplastics. At both object and material level, the jury sees a clear link with sustainability. The jury appreciates Fien's sense of experimentation and her inquisitive outlook. The undergraduate thesis has been worked out in depth. It looks poetic and aesthetic.

Hannah De Bie (landscape and garden architecture)

In recent decades, water and the landscape historical narrative have been listened to less and less, resulting in the disappearance of huge amounts of open space, overflowing watercourses with all its consequences (heat stress, flooding...). This issue is the starting point of a thorough investigation into the urban context of southeast Ghent and its climate challenges.

Hannah put together a very comprehensive dossier that clearly maps the current situation. Besides formulating a vision, she also offers concrete spatial answers. The jury praised Hannah's clear view of reality in all its complexity without losing sight of the individuality of the neighbourhoods in the urban fabric.

Laura Wytynck

Prize Foundation Bruynseraede - De Witte

The Foundation of Public Utility Bruynseraede-de Witte presents annual awards to graduating students graphic design and interior design.

Laura Wytynck (interieurvormgeving in afstandsonderwijs)

Natalie Veranneman

Erin De Schepper

Bequest De Leu

Natalie Veranneman (interieurvormgeving in afstandsonderwijs)

In her quest for spatiality and site value, Natalie always manages to answer a design question from her personal vision, without losing sight of ergonomics and functionality. Even at the start of her training, which started in the full fury of the covid pandemic, she revealed herself as an excellent communicator, with her personal drawing style and clear visualisation techniques.

Her ambition and work ethic were a constant, over the four years. This translated not only into high scores, but also in the choice of her internship at ‘NU architecture studio’. Her constructive attitude was already noticed during the first two years of the programme. But even her current teacher describes Natalie as a progressive student, a flexible thinker, with an open mind for critical input.

Erin De Schepper (landschaps- en tuinarchitectuur)

We saw a lot of courage in Erin's process and final products. Erin dared to venture into non-obvious issues and presented a final result with great enthusiasm and with a convincing story.

Baptiste Baert

Emma Backaert

Combined bequest Audoor, De Guis-Stockman, Preys, Borst, Pycke

Baptiste Baert (interior design)

With the project ‘The felling tree’, through the visualisation of three pieces of furniture, a connection is made between the use of wood as a sustainable material and the responsible management of forests. The perfectly finished objects contain, on the one hand, the methodology of felling trees responsibly, and, on the other, express the expression of using different wood elements to provide one cohesive whole. This work reflects how aesthetics, craft and functionality manage to find each other in one project for the graduate focus design and furniture.

Joppe Bouwers (landscape development)

With no background in design or creativity, Joppe Bouwers stood out from the start of the academic year by actively holding the pen himself and designing effectively. With his prior training in environmentalism, Joppe should have had little or no creative input, but — as we overheard - the inspiration of a parent who teaches drawing was evident in Joppe.

Besides daring to draw about and on tasks at a regional scale level from the start, Joppe excelled in conveying complex landscape systems and tasks in a very insightful and comprehensible way. Both in the first project the Peerdestokbeek — a tributary of the Zwalm Brook — and in the last project ‘Forests as guardians of the freshwater bubble’, Joppe succeeded in conveying the complex story of groundwater flows, drought and humidity in a very comprehensible way.

In the course, Joppe was always a calm engine who brought his fellow students along in a positively stimulating way to work together on tomorrow's landscape challenges.

Specifically in the last project, he set to work together with Lise Dielissen, Maud Raemdock and Una Verborgstadt to investigate where forest expansion in Flanders — and specifically the Wachtebeke-Stekene cover sand ridge — would provide social added value in protecting our drinking water supply in Flanders.

Emma Backaert (landscape and garden architecture)

Emma went through a solid process, remaining ambitiously searching but always keeping her attention on the task at hand. Every week we saw progress and commitment. Also during the study trip, we got to know her better as a driven enthusiast who, out of curiosity, was the quickest to decipher all our questions.

During your presentation, the judges also found her analytical approach very fascinating. She used the right specialist terms, demonstrated your research skills and presented with conviction.

Alexander Vasseur

Prize BLIKVELD

Alexander Vasseur (landscape and garden architecture)