Washington Museum by Sir David Adjaye named best design of 2017 London, 25 January 2018 The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. is crowned the Beazley Design of the Year 2017 The project is the culmination of a decades-long struggle to recognise the importance of the black community in the social fabric of American life Further category winners on the night include a high-performance hijab by Nike, a stairclimbing wheelchair and ink manufactured from air pollution The National Museum of African American History and Culture, designed by Adjaye Associates, The Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond, and SmithGroupJJR for the Smithsonian Institution, has been named the winner of the Beazley Design of the Year award. The annual prize and exhibition curated and hosted by the Design Museum in London has included previous winners such as IKEA and UNHCR s Better Shelter, the London 2012 Olympic Torch and the Barack Obama Hope poster. Now in its tenth year, the award was presented at an exclusive dinner held inside the stunning central atrium of the Design Museum in Kensington. Selected as the winner of the Architecture category, the landmark project designed by the recently knighted Sir David Adjaye overcame the other five category winners to claim the overall award. 2017 saw Adjaye knighted by Her Majesty the Queen for services to Architecture, following the previous award of an OBE in 2007. In 2017 he was also recognised as one of the 100 most influential people of the year by TIME magazine. BEAZLEY DESIGNS OF THE YEAR 1
Architecture and overall winner: Name: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. Designers: Adjaye Associates, The Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond, SmithGroupJJR for the Smithsonian Institution The museum was inaugurated by President Obama in September 2016 and is a long-awaited symbol for the African American contribution to the nation s history and identity. The museum houses galleries, administrative spaces, theatre space and collections storage space. Sir David Adjaye s approach created a meaningful relationship to this unique site as well as a strong conceptual resonance with America s longstanding African heritage. The 313,000-square-foot building comprises a three-tiered structure covered in bronze plates. Designed to shade the glazed facades behind, the filigree cladding is patterned to reference the history of African American craftsmanship. Category winners: Digital category winner: Name: Rapid Liquid Printing Designers: MIT Self-Assembly Lab (Bjorn Sparrman, Kate Hajash, Shokofeh Darbari, Mattis Koh, Schendy Kernizan, Jared Laucks & Skylar Tibbits) in collaboration with Christophe Guberan, and Steelcase (Yuka Hiyoshi, Rob Poel, Markus McKenna, Paul Noll, Sharon Tracy, Edward Vander Bilt, Chris Norman & Charlie Forslund) 2
Rapid Liquid printing (RLP) physically draws in 3D space within a gel suspension, and enables the creation of large scale, customized products made of real-world materials. 3D printing hasn t taken off as a mainstream manufacturing process as it is too slow compared to conventional processes, is limited by scale and the materials are typically low-quality. RLP addresses these limitations: it is incredibly fast (producing structures in a matter of minutes), designed for large scale products (you can print an entire piece of furniture) and uses real-world, industrialgrade materials. Fashion category winner: Name: Nike Pro Hijab Designers: Rachel Henry, Baron Brandt, Megan Saalfeld and Brogan Terrell for Nike Nike has worked alongside a team of athletes to develop a single-layer stretchy high-performance Hijab that could change the face of sport for Muslim women. Inspired by Sarah Attar s win for Saudi Arabia at the 2012 Olympics, it was unveiled two days before International Women s Day. Graphics category winner: 3
Name: Fractured Lands, The New York Times Magazine, 14 August 2016 Designers: Jake Silverstein, Editor-in-Chief, Gail Bichler, Design Director, and Matt Willey, Art Director, for The New York Times Magazine The Fractured Lands issue contained a single, very long (42 thousand word), nonfiction narrative by Scott Anderson and 20 photographs by Paolo Pellegrin. The product of some 18 months of reporting, it tells the story of the catastrophe that has fractured the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq 13 years ago, leading to the rise of ISIS and the global refugee crisis. The story gives the reader a visceral sense of how it all unfolded, through the eyes of six characters in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. Product category winner: Name: AIR-INK Designers: Graviky Labs AIR-INK is the first commercially available ink made from air pollution. The cleantech company has industrialized the process of capturing and recycling air pollution emissions into advanced pigments and inks. Transport category winner: Name: Scewo Designers: Thomas Gemperle, Adrien Weber, Naomi Stieger, Stella Mühlhaus, Bernhard Winter, Pascal Buholzer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology 4
Scewo is a stairclimbing mobility device that will allow disabled persons to be more flexible and independently reach locations that were previously inaccessible. Scewo is a stairclimbing mobility device developed by a group of students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Using a retractable set of rubber tracks, the wheelchair can safely and smoothly travel both up and down stairs, while an extra pair of wheels at the rear of the chair allows users to raise the chair up so that they can engage with others at eye level. The six category winners along with the further 56 other nominations are on display at the Design Museum until 18 February. About Beazley Designs of the Year Beazley Designs of the Year celebrates design that promotes or delivers change, enables access, extends design practice or captures the spirit of the year. 2017 marked the tenth anniversary of the annual exhibition and awards that act as an annual review of the most innovative and thought-provoking projects and prototypes in contemporary design. Designs of our Time: 10 Years of Designs of the Year 2017: Washington Museum by Sir David Adjaye 2016 Better Shelter by IKEA 2015 Human Organs-on-Chips by Donald Ingber and Dan Dongeun Huh at Harvard University s Wyss Institute 2014 Heydar Aliyev Center by Zaha Hadid Architects 2013 GOV.UK UK Government website by GDS 2012 London 2012 Olympic Torch by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby 2011 Plumen 001 by Samuel Wilkinson and Hulger 2010 Folding Plug by Min-Kyu Choi 2009 Barack Obama Poster by Shepard Fairey 2008 One Laptop Per Child by Yves Béhar 2017 Judges and judges quotes David Rowan (chair of the jury), Editor-at-large of WIRED s UK edition Ozwald Boateng OBE, fashion designer Marcus Engman, Design Manager of IKEA Range and Supply. 5
Margaret Calvert OBE, typographer and graphic designer Amanda Levete, Founder and Principal of AL_A Professor Gerry McGovern, Chief Design Officer, JLR Michael Tchao, VP Product Marketing at Apple Inc. David Rowan on Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C The judges had the tough challenge of selecting a project that both epitomised exciting and impactful design, and also capturing the spirit of the year. David Adjaye's Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington DC, did that beautifully: not only is this a striking and already iconic structure at the heart of America's capital, but it's the realisation of an entire century of planning, rejection, political opposition and finally collaborative execution. But the building, opened by Barack Obama in September 2016, is also a powerful reminder that design enables a diverse conversation and can challenge the dominant political discourse. We felt that, in the context of today's strident American debate on race and identity, Adjaye's achievement represented optimism. Ozwald Boateng OBE on Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C We couldn t look any further than the Smithsonian for the overall award. It is a project of beautiful design, massive cultural impact, delivers an emotional experience and has a scale deserved of this major award. As you enter the building clouded in darkness and work your ways through the displays and end bathed in light, this is a project that feels like a major turning point. Amanda Levete on Nike Pro Hijab The first time I saw this project it stopped me in my tracks. It is a piece of design that tackles an important issue in a simple and elegant way. Perfectly delivered with inclusion at its core. About the Design Museum: The Design Museum is the world s leading museum devoted to architecture and design, its work encompasses all elements of design, including fashion, product and graphic design. Since it opened its doors in 1989 the museum has displayed everything from an AK-47 to high heels designed by Christian Louboutin. It has staged over 100 exhibitions, welcomed over five million visitors and showcased the work of some of the world s most celebrated designers and architects including Paul Smith, Zaha Hadid, Jonathan Ive, Miuccia Prada, Frank Gehry, Eileen Gray and Dieter Rams. On 24 November 2016, The Design Museum relocated to Kensington, west London. Leading architectural designer John Pawson has converted the interior of a 1960s modernist building to create a new home for the Design Museum giving it three times more space in which to show a wider range of exhibitions and significantly extend its learning programme. 6