Diseño de pupitre que ganó concurso entra en la fase de revisión

Diseño de pupitre que ganó concurso entra en la fase de revisión
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo 04/15/13

The Ministry of Education (MINERD) underscored the transparency of the selection process of the Dominican Desk DesignAward and the highly professional work performed by the jury, which consisted of experts and representatives of accredited organizations.

MINERD highlighted the qualities of this design, among which are the possibility of replacing its parts and using alternate materials. In addition, the model may the adapted to be used as a «desk» or a «table-chair» combination.

MINERD reported that the next step is to review the winning model in order to determine the relevance of the adaptations and modifications, and of the input substitutions that are to be used in its manufacture, so that it can be produced in-country, as it was established in the rules of the contest.

MINERD explained that the jury found that the winning proposal, submitted by Architect Luis Alejandro Pérez Sánchez, stood out because of the originality of the design, functional versatility, structural simplicity appropriate cost-value relationship, and the possibility of manufacturing it with varioustypes of materials and localtechnologies.

MINERD highlighted the qualities of this design, among which are the possibility of replacing its parts and using alternate materials. In addition, the model may the adapted to be used as a «desk» or a «table-chair» combination.

Also, MINERD praised the work performed by the members of the jury in selecting the winning entry of the Dominican Desk Design, a process it described as transparent, painstaking and knowledgeable.

The contest was a joint initiative of the Presidency of the Republic and MINERD. The objective was to provide a desk,whose design and manufacturewas local, to more than 400 schools across the country, which will adopt the Extended School Day model starting next school year.

MINERD recalled that, as expressed by the head of the agency, Josefina Pimentel, during the award ceremony, «the main purpose of this event was to secure a desk for the education sector which, besides being functional and modern, of goodquality, durable, comfortable and low cost, would allow the students of the various educational levels to remain comfortably seated for long periods of time, without causing them any physical distress and/or excessive burnout during the new extended school days.»

Process

The award ceremony was led by President Danilo Medina, and it took place in the Las Cariátides hall of the National Palace.The jury concluded its work in a satisfactory manner. Its work started on February 8, and it was conducted in two stages: the first was the pre-selection, of which 105 proposals were pre-selected, according to MINERD.

Of the pre-selected entries, 89entered the second stage, during which the 10 finalists were approved and later invited to submit prototypes and budgets.

The juryconsisted of specialists in different disciplines representing higher education institutions and other branches, and who contributed their knowledge and expertiseduring the evaluation of the proposals.

MINERD congratulated the representatives of these institutions: Universidad Nacional Pedro HenríquezUreña (UNPHU), Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE), InstitutoNacional de FormaciónTécnicoProfesional(INFOTEP), (IIBI), andInstitutoTecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), the National Office of Industrial Property (ONAPI – OficinaNacional de la Propiedad Industrial) and the Ministry of Education (MINERD), for the work they performed on a volunteer basis in less than two months, during which they evaluated 499 design proposals, submitted by some 486 participants, some of whom submitted more than one proposal.

Architect Luis Alejandro Pérez Sánchez, next to the winning design, of which he is the author.