Adam Foley (from Swords, Co. Dublin) and his project partner, Peter Rigney (from Moate, Co. Westmeath) received high praise from RTE’s Duncan Stewart in the Miele 21st Century Kitchen design competition, the Final of which was held earlier this week. Their concept was called “Indoor Outdoor Living”.

Eight teams of two students in final year School for Design in Industry at the National College of Art & Design (NCAD), Dublin, took part in the Final on Tuesday 18th December. This is the second year of the competition and this year, the focus was on Sustainability, Energy Conservation and the Environment.

The Competition was won by Tom Maxwell from Portlaw, Waterford and his project partner Ross Condron from Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow for “OS.MO”, a concept which supplies filtered water, chilled water or boiled water on demand only from a modular tap unit.

There were two runners- up: Conor Fallon (Roscommon town) and Fiona McAndrew (Ballina, Co. Mayo); and Mairead Aherne from Limerick City and Eamonn Armstrong from Rosses Point, Sligo.

The judges were RTE’s Duncan Stewart, Antonia O’Keeffe, Deputy, Editor, “Image Interiors” and Patrick McGrath, Chief Executive, Miele Ireland. The winner received €1500 and two runners up each received €500.

Commenting on Adam and Peter’s project, Duncan Stewart said, “This is the sort of standard we need to see in Ireland. The home is where we can all make a real impact in terms of amending our behaviour for greater sustainability. ‘Indoor-Outdoor Living’ is a very impressive concept as it maximizes the use of natural light and features sustainable and recyclable materials.”

‘Indoor-Outdoor Living’ links kitchen to garden, indoor to outdoors. Peter and Adam see the kitchen as being the ‘Central Hub’ of the home and they believe inside and outside should be linked together, making the maximum use of natural light. Their concept features a conservatory-style kitchen with the cooking and eating areas facing out into the garden. To facilitate this, their appliances are double-sided, so they can be accessed from inside or outside. Their kitchen furniture is modular and made from Bamboo for sustainability and the appliances are made from Corian.