PPG Presents Design Awards

PPG Industries Inc. presented its fifth annual auto glass design awards at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The Pittsburgh-based glass maker challenged students at Detroit's College for Creative Studies (CCS) to develop concepts for a premium compact vehicle using unique window system styling to capture the buyer's fancy.

The winners of the PPG Design Challenge Awards for 2004 are:
  • First place: Quinn Fitzgerald, Rosemount, Minn., a CCS transportation design sophomore.
  • Second place: Indiana Pouilly, Versailles, France, a CCS exchange student and graduate of Strate College, Paris.
  • Third place: Jan Jaap Weve, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a CCS transportation design sophomore.

PPG's Barry McGee, vice president, automotive OEM glass, announced the winners. The students received glass trophies and scholarships of $1,500, $1,000, and $500, respectively.

During the ceremonies at the show, John Brandmeier, PPG global product marketing manager, automotive OEM glass, thanked J.D. Power and Associates, which defined the design parameters, and Glasstech Inc., the Perrysburg, Ohio, supplier of glass bending and tempering equipment, which provided the students with information on automotive glass manufacturing, for their support.

Judges were Milt Antonick, adjunct faculty, industrial design department, CCS; Sung Paik, vehicle lead designer, General Motors Corp.; and Monica Prokopyshen, senior specialist, pollution prevention and lifecycle management, stationary environmental and energy, DaimlerChrysler Corp. Seventeen transportation design sophomores submitted concepts and presented their designs before the judges.

To prepare for the contest, the students heard from senior managers at J. D. Power and Associates, who defined the design parameters of creating a premium compact vehicle for Kathy, a professional up-and-coming, sensible young woman.

The students' concepts were judged on how creatively they fulfilled the needs of the profiled consumer, they demonstrated new and unique window systems from both the exterior and interior perspective with due consideration to glass material and processing characteristics, they displayed unique interior design features, and they used color and texture to enhance appeal.

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