The project session of the Siberian Design Center of Tomsk State University for Rosatom received the Platinum Winner at the International Architecture & Design Awards (IADA) 2026 in the category “Educational and Technological Events”. This year, the short list included more than 500 projects from 53 countries. The projects were evaluated by an international jury from Italy, Great Britain, China, France, the USA and other countries.
The IADA is organized by Architecture & Design Community (ADC), one of the leading international platforms in architecture and design. TSU Siberian Design Center became the platinum winner for its unique industrial design training format. In particular, an educational event was submitted for the competition – a project session on industrial design for Rosatom. It was commissioned by the scientific and educational project for the development of young scholars “Scientific Schools of Rosatom” as part of the module of the research school “New Materials and Technologies for Promising Energy Systems” at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna).
– IADA was originally about architecture and industrial design, but now it is expanding its categories – educational and even AI nominations appear. The project session for which we received the award is not a typical training format, but rather a compressed workflow. Participants go from problem to solution in a few days: without a long theory, with constant edits, discussions and the need to make decisions quickly. Only the Siberian Design Center performs “industrial design” training formats in Russia, – said Igor Dydykin, head of the Laboratory for Advanced Research at TSU Siberian Design Center.
Igor Dydykin explained that the project school for Rosatom had several unique features. Firstly, this is a focus on interdisciplinarity: not only designers, but also researchers, candidates and doctors of sciences participated in the project session. This made it possible to integrate industrial design approaches into scientific and technical projects, expanding the horizons of specialists and forming their design skills taking into account the needs of the end user.
Secondly, this is a practice-based approach: in three days, the participants went through all the stages of creating a product – from setting a task and research to visualization, prototyping and public defense of the project. This intensive training allows quickly mastering the methods of design thinking and applying them in real projects.
Thirdly, this is a person-centered approach: special attention was paid to design not only from a technical, but also from a humanistic point of view. Design is a tool that helps create products that focus on people's real needs, not just technology or materials.
Besides, the Siberian Design Center received two more platinum awards for other projects in the International Architecture & Design Awards 2026 at – UAV Kontur received an award in “Robotics and Automation”, the project “A Fairy Tale for Every Home: Royal Carpets” – in “Textiles, Fabrics and Materials Design”.