Glass Trophy of Noor school student competition: Embodiment of softness of light inspired by Islamic geometry
Considering the concretization elements of the fluid-natured and subtle concept of light, the Glass Trophy of Noor school student competition, in recognition of Prof. Omar Yaghi, was made inspired by Islamic geometry in a way that is not only spiritually, but also materially valuable.
MSTF Media reports:
The Glass Trophy of Noor school student competition embodies a combination of Islamic symbols and spatial geometries, which seeks to visualize light as a wonderful phenomenon of the universe. Apart from being spiritually uplifting, this embodiment, on the initiative of its designers, is also of material value.
Yahya Nourian, the co-founder and the CEO of Fablab in Iran, explained the design process of this Glass Trophy, saying: “We sought to visualize the softness of light in a material form to design this Trophy. Light, both in its physical and existential sense, is a very transparent and subtle concept whose visualization in material form is a demanding task; the existence of light can only be concretized through reflection and refraction. At the design stage of this Glass Trophy, we paid close attention to the concept of light in a broader sense than its physical form; in other words, we brought to light the existential and meaning-based concept of ‘light’.
With regard to the design elements of the Glass Trophy, he went on to say: “We sought to bridge the Islamic nature of the competition in its broadest sense with the material and meaning-based sense of ‘light’ (Noor), which is the name of the competition; this way, we would have a new perspective on the scientific approach to the competition.”
“We came up with the design which involved spatial geometry of a tetrahedral network structure, which is seen both in the form of molecules such as diamonds and in the Islamic architectural knots. Engraving the idea of this special network structure on this work, we tried to accomplish the desired visualization through developing the reflections and refractions of light,” Nourian continued.
The CEO of Fablab referred to the material value of this Glass Trophy, saying: “We also pondered how the selected students could take advantage of this Trophy, without changing its size or artistic identity. Therefore, using the experience of designing the KANS insignia, we could design this Glass Trophy so that there are small ingots at its heart, whose removal would not damage the original appearance of the Trophy.
Being asked whether the world trophies and glass awards were valuable by themselves or an accompanying cash prize would also be of advantage to the winners, Nourian answered: “This depends on the views and attitudes the planners and organizers of various prizes adopt; for example, some award ceremonies honor their winners with a trophy and an independent cash prize, whereas others may prefer to design a trophy which holds material value by its own.”
“We designed the Glass Trophy of Noor school student competition in a way that 6 small gold bars are placed in the center where they can be easily separated from the Trophy without damaging its identity. This helps the participating teams, who include two or three members, to easily divide the prize among the members,” the designer further said.
Noor school student competition is held annually as one of the events organized by the Mustafa Science and Technology foundation (MSTF). It aims to have a role in motivating the young generation of the Islamic world, broaden new technological and scientific horizons, and help encourage the growth of prodigious talents. In order to participate in Noor competition, enthusiasts must make one-minute video clips of their achievements based on the subject of the competition, and submit their works to the competition secretariat.
The 4th round of Noor competition, in recognition of Prof. Omar Yaghi who was the 2015 Mustafa Prize laureate, began in August last year. The deadline for submitting works continued until May 20, 2020; however, due to the outbreak of Coronavirus and the absence of students in their schools, the deadline was extended to the late August 2020, and special measures were also adopted for this round of the competition.
2409 students in forms of 1087 teams participated in this round of Noor competition, submitting 691 video clips to the secretariat. These participants are students from six countries including Morocco, Algeria, Malaysia, India, Afghanistan, and Iran.
The selection process is currently underway and soon the closing ceremony of the 4th round of the Noor school student competition will be held.
