Transforming Traditions: Winners of 2021 iF Design Award and Their Extravagant Interior Designs (2024)

A room, a life. Nowadays we spend most of our time in closed spaces. Ideally, they should suit us and be conducive to our well-being. Furniture, décor, lighting, colors, patterns, and fabrics all have an effect on us, albeit an unconscious one. Be it playful elegance, rekindled tradition, or simple functionality, what mainly counts where interior architecture is concerned is the purpose for which a room is to be used. The iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 winners’ designs create totally new styles for very different needs and carry conviction with a great sense of detail.

Design concepts that merge different styles are especially exciting, such as when traditional elements are combined with futuristic details or natural areas take shape in the middle of a living room. A mixture of styles is always a profession of personal taste and very often reduces the needs of different users to a common denominator.

Interior design also plays an important role where we work, are creative, or would deliberately like to relax. That is why an oasis of wellness has an effect by means of its interior, its fragrances, and its sounds even before treatment has begun. Interior design influences our performance and productivity in offices or workshops too. Chinese and Taiwanese designers took on all of these challenges and came up with virtuoso award-winning interior design ideas showing the idea of “The CreatiFe Power of Design”.

EVD Office

Harmony in plain white and curved lines: This project by EVD Design integrates office and exhibition spaces. The internal wall, ceiling, and staircase are clad in white, realizing an expression of dematerialization and highlighting the textured and sculptural features. The space has a rectangular plane. The designers created a U-shaped area that combines with one long side and the five large windows, allowing natural light to filter in and diffuse freely.

Reading Under the Lake - Public Space

A popular tradition combined with young design: In the past, an old tree always acted as the village meeting place where people exchanged daily information and built relationships. It is a habit and a collective memory to gather under the old tree. Tea is an essential tradition in Xiamen culture. It is a ritual to boil water and brew tea for friends. Drinking tea is a gesture of freeing up and calming the mind. The public space was developed by Waterfrom Design and Zhong Nan Group.

Exhibition of Frozen Time - Spa Interior

A space for all the senses—presented by Waterfrom Design and Aqua Health Clinic: This clinic uses a technological atmosphere to create a novel impression of traditional Chinese medicine. This place enables people to jointly shape the modern five senses culture through space, diet, and spa treatment as well as experience the ancient internal and external health cultivation of traditional medicine.

A 1930s Mansion Gets A Fusion Renovation

Where Asia and Europe merge: This mansion by NONGSTUDIO and Hongmen Construction is nestled on the top floor of an old house in the former French Concession area of Shanghai. The client is a couple, a Chinese husband and European wife, who yearn to avoid the hustle and bustle of city life. This mixing of Chinese and Western lifestyles is integrated into the design ideology. The house was forover 50 years a brick and timber entity and its renovation respects that history. The suspended ceiling was removed to carefully restore the original wooden structure.

O.Design Studio and Sanshing Four Seasons create a space for modern craftsmanship: Yilan Sanshing is a settlement of rich historical background and distinctive culture. However, it faces the loss of agricultural land and the decline of traditional economic models. After understanding the clients’ stories and requirements, the design was planned through the composition of the space, constructing an emotional human scale, allowing the space to become a creative base of vibrant ecological fusion.

The House of Mokkun

Dial Interior Design and its client achieved functionality by means of a transformation with their living room space: The owner’s ideal living conditions coincide with the architects’ design philosophy. They redefined the space by moving the sliding doors. The original living room space becomes a dining room and Japanese tea room, and “Mokkun” is used in this area where the children spend the most time because the public space should be a sunny open area that is healthy for the whole family to share.

Enchanting Estate - Residential Interior

Contemplation in keeping with Chinese tradition of old: The project by Shenzhen Huamo International Design is located in the northeast of Guangzhou City. It is a rare classical Chinese garden architecture in Jiangnan style. The white wall and black roof refer to the essence and spirit of Jiangnan Hui architecture, conveying a tranquil, retro and charming appearance. The cozy neo-Chinese design forms the foundation of the villa, which manifests the Jiangnan design concept and embellishes the unique historical charm of the earlier Song Dynasty.

Blurred Spatial Boundaries - Residential Interior

Past meets future: The goal of this design was to create a clean, multifunctional living space and to enhance communication in a more relaxed atmosphere. The parlor by Hsu Ykung Design presents a freely arranged space. The mix and match of modern sofas, traditional cabinets, and old Indonesian teak stools creates a vivid ambiance.

You will find all of the iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 winning designs here, and also in the brand new iF Design app – download it here.