Dezeen Magazine

Competition: win a Siment vase modelled on India's brutalist architecture

The latest Dezeen competition offers five readers the chance to win one of these concrete vases and plant pots, which design studio Tiipoi has modelled on urban infrastructure in India.

This competition is now closed. Congratulations to the winners, which are Jack Parmar from London, England, Adrian Crook from Cheshire, England, Robert Hammond from New York, USA, Lauretta Brioschi from Milan, Italy, and Maggi Dignam from Manchester, England.

See more competitions with great prizes currently on Dezeen ›

Launched during this week's London Design Festival, Tiipoi's Siment collection comprises three small plant pots shaped like the country's water towers, and two vases that echo the forms of its metro flyovers.

The miniature concrete structures capture examples from India's brutalist architectural history, which began in the 1950s when Le Corbusier designed the city of Chandigarh.

Much of this infrastructure is now abandoned, but the Tiipoi team was struck by the way elements had been incorporated into modern-day surroundings. Some form backdrops for political posters, while others are covered in planting, providing a contrast to the rough grey material.

"Despite their original purpose, they have now been absorbed by their present environment, in a way you don't see elsewhere in the world," said Tiipoi's Spandana Gopal in a statement.

"At Tiipoi we like to tell stories about India as it is: nothing hidden, nothing tidied," she continued. "These brutalist structures offer honest insight to the living and breathing cityscapes of the country."

The design studio – which is based in London and Bangalore – captured the designs in a photographic study, while touring the water towers and pillars in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The team then segmented the water towers into three styles and metro flyover pillars into two.

Designs were modelled on the computer and 3D-printed with the help of a manufacturer in Mumbai. Silicone moulds were made from the prints, then concrete was hand-poured inside and left to set. The vases and planters are detailed with tiny ladders, stairs and pipework.

Each winner will receive one of the five designs in the Siment collection, selected at random by Tiipoi.

Competition closes 17 October 2018. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email, and their names will be published at the top of this page.