Walker Zanger —the world’s most comprehensive stone and tile company —announced that Aybars Asci, president and founder of Efficiency Lab for Architecture, is the winner of the inaugural Kaza Design Competition with his original design “Liquid Forms.”
Asci advocates for research-driven design that combines conceptual clarity with analytical processes, according to his webpage. Through his nearly 20 years working as a practicing architect, he has worked on projects all over the world, from North America, Central America, the Middle East and Asia. Other titles he holds are former design director, inventor, educator and environmentalist.
“Liquid Forms tile is aesthetically versatile,” said Asci. “The soft curvilinear design has a tactile quality that suggests sensuousness and luxury. It is a single tile design that can generate multiple patterns, which is very well suited for residential and hospitality projects.”
“‘Liquid Forms’ is a uniquely exciting contemporary design that really takes advantage of the plasticity of concrete,” said Jared Becker, Walker Zanger Vice President of Design and Marketing. “Because of the numerous designs you can create with just one piece, it allows designers and architects to use the tile to create many exciting sculptural patterns. Aybars’ realization of the three dimensionality possibilities allowed by Kaza’s unique manufacturing process was exemplary.”
The Kaza collection incorporates tactile 3-D elements for bold accent walls, with a sensitive balance of style and innovation for the modern home. The brainchild of Joe Meszaros and Peter Oszko, Kaza launched just two years ago and since then has been redefining the way people look at concrete.
According to Walker Zanger’s article about the competition, the company originated from the small town of Szentendre outside Budapest and manufactures modular concrete surfacing solutions. Kaza grants designers the freedom to explore their imagination to create extraordinary shapes and three-dimensional patterned tiles that are incredibly unique.
The winning dimensional design was inspired by the masterpieces of Italian sculptor and architect Bernini, and features an elegantly simple rectangular shape combined with asymmetric surface articulation to generate multiple tiling patterns. Liquid Forms will complement the existing Kaza collection with the smoothness of the concrete combined with its shape giving it a sleek, modern simplicity that is refined and almost aerodynamic.
Kaza Concrete will manufacture it exclusively for Walker Zanger’s Kaza collection in three colorways, including metallic.
The competition was conducted in partnership with Architectural Digest and ran from May through September. Participants were tasked with creating an all-new decorative concrete tile that would complement the existing Kaza collection. The judging panel included prominent figure in architecture and interior design: Rafael de Cárdenas, Stephanie Goto, Victoria Hagan, Ryan Korban, Jennifer Post and Nathan Turner.
“I really love the sinewy fluidity of the form and how it would dematerialize a wall with it unique play of light throughout the day into night,” said de Cárdenas. “Though static, its surface suggests fluid animation.”
“The softness of the form and its many possibilities is very seductive,” said Hagan.
In addition to receiving royalties from sales, Asci will travel to Budapest, Hungary to tour the factory where Kaza tiles are manufactured.
Top photo: Aybars Asci. Bottom photos: Designs from Liquid Forms. Photos courtesy Walker Zanger.
