The Closing Ceremony revealed the three winning projects of this year’s Tanween Mega Challenge which focused on enriching the Hajj pilgrimage.

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, November 6, 2024 - The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) has just concluded the seventh edition of Tanween, Ithra’s flagship design conference, inviting leading experts and creatives to Fail Forward. With a rich program of panel discussions, masterclasses, workshops and exhibitions, this year’s conference yielded tangible impact and offered professionals and enthusiasts productive opportunities to connect, share insights, network and collaborate.

Shahad Alwazani, Tanween Program Lead, highlighted the importance of this year’s theme by celebrating failure as an essential step toward success, encouraging experimentation without fear of outcomes. The engaging program of talks, workshops and exhibitions explored unexpected setbacks as opportunities for designers to sharpen their focus and skills.

Keynote speeches and panel discussions
Keynote speeches: Design fellow with over 20 years of expertise, Michelle Jafery encouraged designers to view setbacks as “stepping stones rather than roadblocks,” while environmental architect Guillaume Crédoz offered a deep dive into some of its most successful designs, emphasizing that: “Sustainability is a creative challenge to rethink and renew.” Finally, tech designer Ross Lovegrove advocated for creative innovations that “move away from the mechanical to the biological,” advocating for designs that harmonize with nature’s rhythms and virtues.

Expert Panels and Workshops: Throughout the conference, panels and workshops examined a wide range of topics that impact a design journey. Artist and innovator Sebastián Errazuriz explored the transformative yet challenging role of artificial intelligence in design, while artist and curator Rana Salam invited a small group of attendees to embrace their culture and creative challenges to mount original exhibits and displays.

Innovative regional and international exhibitions
Isola x Ithra International Exhibition: During Tanween, Ithra unveiled its second exhibition developed in partnership with Isola, titled Behind the Curtains: Scenes of Craft, following the international success of Ithra and Isola’s first co-curation Routes to Roots. This year’s showcase invited visitors to step backstage and into the creative minds of ten internationally acclaimed design studios specializing in crafts, circular design or material research.

Creative Solutions Residency Showcase: Tanween attendees were the first to interact with the immersive storytelling experiences from Ithra’s latest Creative Solutions Residency Program. This design and storytelling residency program focuses on creatively using immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), immersive audio and haptics.

Tanween Challenges: Tanween also showcased the conception journeys of the winning projects of this year’s Tanween Challenges which invited regional designers to develop concepts that harmonize human activities with the planet's biodiversity.

Winners of the Tanween Mega Challenge Announced
The Closing Ceremony also revealed the three winning projects of this year’s Tanween Mega Challenge, developed in partnership with the Pilgrim Experience Program (part of Saudi Arabia's efforts to actualize Saudi Vision 2030), which invited designers and innovators worldwide to create original and practical ideas to enhance the Hajj pilgrimage experience.

With over 60 designers and innovators from across the world, the following designs were selected as winners for each category and their ideas will be further developed with the support of governmental, private and nonprofit providers.

Communication: The winning concept of team 'Yusur,' represented by Arwa Al-Shawan, Sara Khouj, Maryam Mohamed and Shahad Ahmed, aims to reduce the number of lost pilgrims by using a visual language featuring symbols and geometric shapes.
Waste Management: Team 'Norayn,' comprising Areej Al-Dahash, Albaraa Al-Dldeeb, Aisha Al-Jalal, and Zahraa Al-Shaibani, won with their idea of replacing bottled water trucks with modified tankers equipped with sensor-operated faucets, allowing pilgrims to refill reusable bottles.
Health & Wellbeing: Team 'Faseelah,' represented by LayanAbusaud, Lama Dardas, Lujain Al-Taqi and Sarah Al-Maddah, won for their concept of a waterproof, GPS-enabled men’s shoe that monitors the health status of pilgrims.