DAE Social Designers win Stadtarbeit Social Design Award

In September 2024, five Social Design MA students—Nabila Ernada, Nomi Toirkens, Elna Aurand, Violeta Perez Hurtado, and Phoebe Hotopf—brought their mobile kitchen project, Kiosk T//WASTE, to Vienna Design Week, where it won the tenth Stadtarbeit Social Design Award. The project aimed to both challenge our notions of food waste within industrial food systems by turning discarded ingredients into something not only edible but desirable. The group’s mobile kitchen roamed through Vienna’s third district, transforming rescued ingredients from local businesses into vegetarian dishes while encouraging the public to engage in a dialogue about waste.

Kiosk T//WASTE wasn’t confined to a single space; instead, the kiosk moved their kitchen through key locations in the city, investigating local food waste systems along the way. At Wien Mitte Mall, they built a live archive of food that had been discarded by sandwich bars and fast-food outlets, turning those ingredients into meals while publicly displaying their origins. They continued their exploration in Arenbergpark, where they experimented with recipes before finally cooking for the public at Rochusmarkt’s Saturday market. The project encouraged passersby to pause, share a meal, and reconsider what is labelled as waste. In this context, food became both sustenance and a conversation starter.

The group also collaborated with student initiative Elevator Radio, using the platform to broadcast conversations about food, design, and sustainability. Discussions touched on the role of communal meals in building social bonds, Vienna’s growing food design scene, and how creative practices can reshape our relationship with food waste. The mobile kitchen itself, adapted from Chmara Rosinke’s Mobile Hospitality project, became both a practical tool and a symbol of the project’s nomadic, community-focused approach.

To close the week, the group partnered with Cucina Alchimia to host a dinner that reimagined food waste as fine dining. Ingredients that might once have been discarded were transformed into a gourmet experience, highlighting how food typically considered “waste” can still hold value in gastronomy. Additionally, in collaboration with Caritas, they led a community cooking class, teaching practical methods like leaf-to-root cooking to help participants reduce personal kitchen waste.

Their work culminated in Kiosk T//WASTE receiving the Stadtarbeit Social Design Award, recognising their thoughtful exploration of food waste and industrial kitchen systems. Reflecting on their experience in Vienna, the group noted the strong awareness of food waste among both local communities and industrial kitchens. What they found wasn’t just a conversation about waste but an ongoing evolution, a city already well on its way toward redefining how both waste and food are valued and discarded.

This project is supported by Stadtarbeit’s Erste Bank Social Designpreis and Community Experiment Grant