The award ceremony of the 4th Desafio de Design Odebrecht Braskem took place this Monday (5), after mobilizing college students to create new solutions for urban furniture, using plastic as a raw material. In this edition, the first to be held in Rio de Janeiro, with the central theme "Urban Furniture for Spaces in Transformation," the winners were students from the Federal Fluminense University (UFF) in the category of Food and Artistic Presentations, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in the category of Work and Leisure. The initiative comes from Odebrecht and Braskem, in partnership with the agency Ampliativo.

The award-winning groups presented bold design pieces, blending functionality, sustainability, and innovation. With the premise of "resting by the tree," the Bosque team, from UFRJ, wished to offer locals a place to contemplate the beauty of the new pier, with sinuous furniture and plenty of shade. Student Vanessa Bernardes, one of the creators of the winning project, spoke of the challenges in creation. "For us, the third phase of the Challenge was the most complex. Conceiving a project from products produced by Braskem's customers was the most thrilling and fun moment of this process."

The project of the ÒN team, composed of students from the UFF, was inspired by diving. The tube-shaped benches create the idea of bubbles, which together form a large space to "connect and decelerate," as one of the creators of the project, student Juliane Rodrigues, says. Regarding the experience of participating in the Challenge, she speaks of the knowledge acquired. "Working with a competent team has expanded my horizons in my career."

Each team received a prize in the amount of R$15,000 and will have their pieces installed in the district of Santo Cristo, in public areas of coexistence of Porto Maravilha, a region that is undergoing a revitalization process and aims to offer society a sense of belonging and appropriation of the public space.

According to Braskem's Polypropylene Commercial Manager, Mônica Evangelista, the participants were able to create innovative and sustainable pieces that could represent Rio de Janeiro. The project allowed students to immerse themselves in intensive knowledge of new techniques and materials and stimulate their creativity by drawing inspiration from the beauty and culture of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, they were able to learn how plastic is a solution that achieves unique, unique finishing and quality levels, which can be further explored in Brazil."

The dispute
The Challenge featured four educational institutions, with traditional Architecture and Design courses: Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC Rio), State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and Fluminense Federal University (UFF). It included 24 students, forming eight teams in total.

To prepare, the selected students were guided by designers Augusto Seibel, Daniel Kraichete and Marco Maia for four months. During this period, the students were trained with technical lectures and training on the applications of Braskem products sand information on the Life Cycle Analysis of products, materials and processes, design trends, entrepreneurship, etc. The judging panel was composed of renowned architects and designers, as well as representatives of Braskem and Odebrecht.

About Desafio de Design
The Challenge was created during the preparation of the interior design project of the headquarters building of OR (Odebrecht Realizações), in São Paulo. Instead of looking for renowned architects or designers, the companies opted for a process involving young design talents in Brazil. The proposal to use plastic as the material of the pieces of furniture of the building's living space sought to highlight the versatility of this raw material, including in corporate applications, as well as the possibility of its use in a practical and sustainable way, given its lower environmental impact. The main advantages of plastic include reduced weight, ease of transportation, durability, strength and ergonomics, which allows work in complex shapes. Furthermore, the plastic is 100% recyclable.

About Braskem
Braskem is the largest thermoplastic resins producer in the Americas, with annual production volume of over 20 million tons, which includes other chemical products and basic petrochemicals, with annual revenue of R$54 billion. Driven by its purpose of improving people's lives and creating sustainable solutions in chemicals and plastics, Braskem is present in more than 70 countries, has around 8,000 Team Members and operates 40 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Germany and Mexico, the latter in partnership with Mexican company Idesa.