Prague wins Red Dot design awards for T3 Coupé tram and public furniture

Prague won two awards at the international Red Dot Design Awards, one of the world’s most important design events every year. The gala award ceremony was held July 8 evening in Essen, Germany.

Prague City
Councilor Jan Chabr accepted the awards on behalf of the city. “The
jury praised Prague for the design of the T3 Coupé retro tram and
for the appearance of the city furniture, which even won the Best of
The Best award,” Chabr said.

“It is a great
success. It is a prize for both the designers themselves and those
who have contributed to their choice of design. It is also proof that
Prague is a modern world metropolis and is heading in the right
direction,” he added.

The authors of the
city furniture are Michal Froněk and Jan Němeček from Artěl.
Their proposal for the design of the benches, waste baskets and
bicycle racks was selected in October 2017 in a competition held by
the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR). The first
benches went up at the end of 2018. At the time, IPR praised the
designs for their simplicity.

The Red Dot Design
Award from this furniture group was in particular for the hanging and
free-standing waste bins. People can see them in Stromovka, Petřín
and Strossmayerovo náměstí.

The concept and design of the T3 Coupé tram are the work of the studio Anna Marešová designers, specifically of designer Anna Marešová, Tomáš Chludil, and graphic designer Jiří Toman.

Marešová said
winning was two dreams come true. “First of all, I got to design a
new tram, which was then built and is fully functional, and secondly,
people like it. That’s the best feedback a designer can get. And
that’s how I view the Red Dot. I’m very pleased and I appreciate
that the Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) approached me to work on
the project,” she said when the award was announced earlier this
year.

“The coordination
with engineers and technicians especially was outstanding. Thanks to
that, we succeeded in perfecting the project right down to the
smallest of details,” she added.

Peter Zec, founder
and president of the Red Dot Award, was impressed. “It’s a
sophisticated solution, and the workmanship is very detailed and of
excellent quality,” he said in a press release.

The project was born
about two years ago and was introduced at the end of last year. The
tram can be rented for a fee, and has been in operation since last
November.

The tram was built
in Prague at the DPP’s Hostivař depot. The DPP commissioned the
tram and is the investor for the entire project.

The T3 Coupé allows
people to ride through Prague in a semi-open vehicle as well as enjoy
the stylish interior. The designers took most inspiration from the
original T3, but they also looked at older types of trams for ideas.
The interior features a bar, which was taken from the T1 tram, where
it served as the ticket counter. Another significant piece of
inspiration can be seen in the roof windows, which resemble those in
RTO buses.

The designers even
put a ticket punch in the tram to cancel souvenir tickets. The tram
also has its own logotype and complete merchandising. The level of
detail applied in the project is also evident in the original T3
Coupé uniforms worn by the driver and conductor, which were created
by designer Česlav Jaroš.

The Red Dot Design
Award competition has been organized by the German Design Zentrum
Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen since 1955. The awards are given for
exceptional products in industrial and product design and are the
most prestigious recognition in the world.