The winners of the AZ Awards for 2015 have been announced, awarding honours to the best 19 projects spanning several categories including architecture, landscapes, interiors, furnishings and lighting. This was the 5th anniversary of the awards by Canadian contemporary architecture and design magazine Azure.

An incredible 720 submissions were received this year from architects, designers and students from all kinds of disciplines. These were reduced to 66 before the judging panel decided on the 19 best ones. The awards were presented at a gala event in Toronto in June.

One of the most impressive winners is the CRT glass tile designed by Paul Burns. The tiles are made from glass from old televisions and computer monitors, saving the materials from ending up in landfill. The tiles won the award in the Best Interior Product category.

CRT TVs and monitors have become a huge waste stream after being replaced by modern flat screen LED devices. The glass used to make the screens is specially designed to be thick and shatter resistant. This means it has very few other uses so more often than not it would end up as waste in landfill. Paul Burns came up with a new idea to turn this waste into a new, sustainable building material. The end result is the beautiful, award winning tiles.

Fireclay Tile, Paul Burns’ company, was already using recycled materials to make tiles. Working with CRT would involve a similar process, the only difference being that the screens needed to be carefully removed from the plastic housing. Once that is done the material is crushed and sorted before being moulded into tiling.

The end result is stunning. The tiles are the natural grey tone of CRT glass rather than being coloured. Fireclay Tile has named the colour Phosphor.

Using recycled materials is becoming more and more popular in the architectural world, both in the construction of the property and for elements of the interior design. Architects are taking more care to be sustainable and reduce the carbon footprint of properties. Products like the CRT tiles are really fantastic and deserve the praise they receive.

As a forward thinking architect in London we are always looking at new products to use in our projects, particularly if they are sustainable and eco-friendly. Developments such as these show just how much promise the future holds for sustainable alternative materials.