Architecture Awards 2020

59 2020 Architecture Awards BUILD Jun20454 Best International Furniture Designer 2020 – Germany & Best Luxury Residential Design Project 2020 (Germany): Luxury Residence Living Even from the humblest of beginnings, hard work, clear goals, and a willingness to listen to your instincts can lead to great success. Ceylan Ates, of Ceylan Ates Architecture and Design did just this, and is now the deserving winner of two awards: the Best International Furniture Designer 2020 – Germany, and the Best Luxury Residential Design Project 2020 (Germany): Luxury Residence Living. We profiled the firm and the Ceylan to discover more about her meteoric rise to success. eylan Ates has worked hard to build herself into the talented and prolific designer that she is today. Working out of her hometown of Stuttgart, Germany, Ceylan is the tasteful mind behind some incredibly luxurious, yet economically viable, residence projects of recent times. Although born and raised in Stuttgart, Ceylan is of Turkish descent. Her grandmother and grandfather moved to the country without even being able to speak the language, and with no family or friends to count on, other than their own perseverance. This determination has been present in Ceylan herself from a young age. She developed an edge over her classmates, knowing from an early age the career she wanted. This early understanding gave her a goal to work towards at a time when others were still trying to figure their lives out. Still, it is a competitive industry that Ceylan set herself up to join. Her professors told her as much and hammered home the need to stand out from the crowd. Ceylan believes her passion is rare: she didn’t choose to become an architect because of the title or the money involved, she became an architect because she had nurtured a passion for it from a young age. As such, she has some very clear mental tools that she relies on. First, she listens to her instinct and her tastes. She knows when something looks good or feel right and acts on that. Second, she has a very high standard of quality that she holds herself, and her designs, too. Recently, Ceylan Ates has branched out to focus on object design, and in particular, furniture designs. Her portfolio currently consists of two lines, one of which is a range of children’s collectible furniture called Ceylan Ates Kids. Every piece of the line has been developed by Ceylan from the very first draft. Current progress has been pushed back on the furniture line, as international travel restrictions have stopped Ceylan from being able to personally oversee the creation each prototype. Rather than push them through, production times have been extended. Often, people have principles that they follow during good times but falter when things get tough, but Ceylan’s principles have weathered the pressure of one of the most difficult years in living memory. Outside of her furniture line, Ceylan’s architectural projects have continued moving forward. One of her developments, a C luxury family home fit for three in the middle of a city, wrapped up just before COVID-19 hit. Another, a compound of luxurious residences, the Areal Wittumstraße, she designed while in lockdown. This job came with a series of challenges, prominent among them was the balance between luxury views and local acoustic restrictions. Two of the buildings in the compound were set against the land border, the other side of which was a commercial district. The original windows Ceylan envisioned emblazoned across the front of the buildings would, according to acoustic tests, let in too much noise echoing across the commercial border. Consulting with fellow experts, she managed to tweak the design and get the acoustic tests passed, while preserving the look and feel of the original design. Furthermore, the buildings she created were all built at a very economic price. Ceylan Ates has built a wonderful career for herself, adhering to her own principles and holding herself to a high standard. Being driven by the work itself and her love for design, coupled with an entrepreneurial mindset, has helped her to create some truly outstanding projects. Company: Ceylan Ates Architecture and Design Contact: Ceylan Ates Website: www.ceylanates.com