Grand Prix 2003: Orientation in Space

The red dot: grand prix 2003 is awarded to Büro Uebele from Stuttgart for the orientation system for DGF Stoess AG. The prize money of € 10,000 was donated by the Thomas-Gruppe Gelsenkirchen. The red dot award: communication design is thus the design award with the highest endowment in the communication sector. With the orientation system "DGF Stoess AG" for the gelatine factory of the same name, the design office not only succeeded in creating a guidepost system through the administrative building in Eberbach, Baden-Württemberg, but also an integrative and identity-lending element for the company and its employees. Cubes on each floor function as guideposts and structural elements throughout the building. The orientation system uses molecular compositions of gelatine layers and various colour nuances of the red limestone of the building to graphically mark the floors.

The orientation system only catches the eyes of those who are searching for something – for all others it harmoniously blends in with the natural colours of the building's architecture. In the entrance, however, the five cubes appear in a row like an installation. According to the jury's assessment, the system impresses with its "unobtrusive conciseness". The aimed-at unity with the architecture and the unusual form of the guideposts relate to each other in an exciting and suspenseful, and yet harmonic way.