USM FOUNDATION DESIGN GRANT EXHIBITION – 6th EDITION
10–30.10.2023
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne

With the aim of encouraging innovation, the USM Foundation is offering for the sixth time a scholarship of CHF 25,000. The prize is awarded alternately to students from ECAL/Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne and HEAD/Haute école d'art et design Genève.    

Awarded this year at ECAL under the guidance of Swiss designer Christian Spiess, the prize enabled students in the Bachelor of Industrial Design program to design new seating for the terrace of the Théâtre de Vidy in Lausanne. 

As part of the Théâtre de Vidy's renovation, the students worked in pairs to design seating that would provide a moment of comfort for visitors and passers-by. In addition to the aspects of practicality, seating comfort and weather resistance, a simple handling of the furniture should be considered, allowing the terrace to be adapted to different needs. Proposals providing optimised storage space and mobility have been developed accordingly.  

The awarded designs by Massimo Scheidegger & Bruno Pauli Caldas (winner) and Alicia Berclaz & Tiziana Rocha da Silva (honourable mention) were produced in multiple copies in the theatre's workshop and are therefore tailored around the skills of their carpentry, metalworking and sewing workshops. 

The project was conducted with the kind support of the USM Foundation and USM U. Schärer Söhne AG.