Hi everybody, I’m Lotte-Mo and I’m very honored to announce that this NEXA Award goes to the project work: 

Schwammstadt by Janina Rulka and Basil Mayer, who are studying in the BA Visual Communication and Digital Spaces. 

This beautiful work is both visually striking and contextualizes the problem of a highly relevant and tangible climatic change trough a high (increasing) degree of sealing through current urban infrastructure such as asphalt or building masses in our cities. 

The project introduces the concept of Schwammstadt – Sponge Cities, in which the necessity to create more green, blue and open spaces, can help to absorb rainwater. This concept shows a solution for the water to be reintroduced into the ecosystem and for cooling and ventilation. 

On site at Freilager-Platz VR googles invite us to perceive a playful animation of different Swiss cities, shown as a solar system of planets and moons. Thanks to this art work and the addition of sound we can dive in an abstract but clear depiction of our current urban spaces in Switzerland. The varying sizes of the planetary system make it possible to compare the different cities and their existing amount of sealed and green or blue spaces. 

This approach is most tangible and easy example of transferring intangible data and numbers into an understandable information. By showing famous landmarks of Basel, for example, it is much easier to understand the local relevance and the planetary imppact and urgency of this problem. 

Its aesthetic appeal allows to transfer and attract a public and wide audience, ensuringto awareness and a possible more sustainable behavior on a social and cultural level. 

The Sponge City Atlas literally unfolds the need for more resilient and regenerative spaces – in our own universes. Thank you Basil and Janina for this important thought-provoking input and for the inspiration through your creative animation to act more sustainable and to make complex topics comprehensible. 

Once more congratulations to Basil and Janina.

Hello everyone, my name is Pedro Wirz, and I am honored to present the second winner of this year's edition of the NEXA | Next Generation Sustainability Award HGK Basel 2025—a project that reimagines community-led economies through an innovative and unexpected format. 

The NEXA Award goes to Käsesyndikat by Livni Holtz and Nicolas Seiler, MA Transversal Design. 

At its core, Käsesyndikat bridges rural and urban realities through commoning practices—the collective management and sharing of resources outside traditional market structures. Commoning is not just about access to shared goods but also about fostering collaboration, participation, and mutual care within a community. 

The project started with a simple yet profound gesture: leasing a cow, participating in communal labor, and receiving 150 kg of alpine cheese per year. This cheese becomes more than just food—it is a medium for exchange, trust, and shared responsibility. By developing a collaborative distribution model, Käsesyndikat challenges traditional market dynamics and explores new forms of social and economic interdependence. Presented as a cheese stand, this project is a playful yet critical intervention—one that invites us to rethink sustainability, shared resources, and the structures shaping our economies. 

The jury was particularly impressed by its ironic and irreverent approach, using cheese as a tool for radical imagination and sustainable exchange.

Congratulations to Livni Holtz and Nicolas Seiler for this outstanding work. An intelligent, sensitive, and authentic project!

I’m happy to announce this NEXA Award that goes to 

No Spare Wheels by Thomas d'Enfert, ICDP MA Industrial Design 

My name is Naïma Trabelsi, and I am honored to present this NEXA Award to a project that challenges our perception of the everyday, our physical abilities, and the unnoticed mechanics of human existence. No Spare Wheels by the designer Thomas D'Enfert is more than a performance, more than a design experiment—it is an invitation to rethink how we interact with the world and with each other. Through a simple yet profound shift—removing the thumb from our daily interactions—this work playfully and critically exposes the foundational role of this small but essential part of our anatomy. It reminds us that what we take for granted is often at the core of our human evolution, communication, and creativity. 

At the heart of No Spare Wheels is a deeply social inquiry. By designing objects that momentarily erase the privilege of the opposable thumb, the project fosters a heightened awareness of bodily difference and ability. It humorously and sensitively opens space for empathy—an exploration that connects the playfulness of experimental design with the reality of those who experience hand impairments, whether due to illness, accident, or age. 

But No Spare Wheels does not stop at the performative level. It extends into craftsmanship, type design, and storytelling, collecting personal narratives of hand-related challenges to form an alternative archive of knowledge and experiences. This interplay between design, personal history, and social reflection makes it a project of rare depth. 

Through its participatory nature, No Spare Wheels encourages us to reconsider the overlooked complexities of our bodies often taken for granted and the tools and solidarity we rely on. It is an invitation to think, to feel, and to engage—as a human and within the world we inhabit. 

Congratulations to Thomas D'Enfert for this remarkable work!

Welcome, I’m Natalie Kohler and I have the pleasure to finish this year's NEXA Jury with a Honorary Recognition for 

Gefährt und Gefährt:innen by Massimo Pfeffinger and Juno Feierabend, both BA Process Design at Hyperwerk 

This project sets things in motion – not only in the literal sense but also in the spirit of collective action. It demonstrates that mobility is more than just individual transportation: it can be a shared process, a social experience, and a sustainable contribution to our environment. 

Gefährt und Gefährt*innen follows a forward-thinking approach: old bicycles are transformed into cargo bikes and put to collective use. The concept is based on upcycling, a minimal CO₂ footprint, and reuse of materials – a brilliant example of low-tech design that is both ecologically and socially impactful. This approach not only addresses urban mobility challenges in the face of increasing densification and climate concerns but also presents a diversification of transportation solutions. Initiatives like London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) highlight the urgent need for such alternatives.

But the project goes far beyond the creation of cargo bikes. It (re)activates and establishes community structures by not only building bikes but also forming networks, sharing knowledge and experiences, and encouraging replication. Through construction manuals and process documentation, Massimo and Juno enable others to adopt and expand their idea – an open-source vision of mobility that stands out for its accessibility and inclusivity. 

This is already happening. In Zurich, Basel, and Bern or worldwide, there are already groups actively engaging with this idea, and it is inspiring to see how the concept and structures continues to grow, connect, and evolve on a regional level but also european or worldwide. The outlook includes new designs, an open-source library, and collaborations with local initiatives and neighbourhoods in the city—– a sustainable model with enormous future potential to change the way we move. 

Congratulations on this well-deserved Honorary Recognition!