great design vol.9 beazley designs of the year
Design that promotes or delivers change. Design that captures the spirit of the year. Design that enables access. Work that has extended design practice.
The Beazley designs of the year, spreading across five categories, seem to be one of the more democratic awards out there. Nominations for the awards are open to anyone, as long a they comply by their ethical principles above. This is then whittled down to a shortlist of 70 by the Design Museum, and then an independent jury pick the winners. With work from established practices and newly qualified designers, the selection is diverse, thought provoking and forward thinking.
The overall winner this year was the Better Shelter, funded by the IKEA Foundation, for its "outstanding contribution towards the global issue of population displacement". There are currently 65 million displaced people worldwide. Inarguably, it’s an issue which needs attention from design and beyond, so much that is one of the defining issues of the moment. Better Shelter, which has been in development for five years, addresses it. The structure is made of lightweight but robust polymer panels laminated with thermal insulation, each of which clip onto a steel frame. A solar panel on the roof provides electric lights and device charging facilities. The shelters can be assembled by four people in four hours with just a hammer, implementing the expertise of IKEA in a life-changing manner. This project goes some way to restoring the privacy, dignity, security and comfort these people have been stripped of fleeing conflict. Despite a fire regulation related hiccup in 2015, over 15,000 of the shelters have been deployed so far with the help of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, meaning the project has taken the crucial leap from being a nice idea to an actual article which is actually making change. A well deserved winner.
Other highlights include the affordable Sustainable Housing from Mexico and the Design that Saves Lives methodology from Arup Ireland in response to the sudden collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh in April 2013 - and that’s just the Architecture section, I’ll have to delve into the Product and Transport sections again. In fact I’d highly recommend perusing the Beazley website, which in itself is very well resolved and pleasant to use.
Alex Milton summed it up quite nicely in his nomination of the Design that Saves Lives project; “In an age when architecture has often been reduced to a promotional brand for high-value property development, it is reassuring to see the discipline engage with social and structural problems in the real world.” Certainly something to think about.