(Relaxnews) -
From Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor to Design Miami's Designer of the Year, Marten Baas - 2009 was the year of wallflowers and newcomers.
Pritzker Prize
The jury's decision to honor Swiss architect Peter Zumthor came as a surprise to many since Zumthor has lived a relatively quiet existence in the mountains of his native country, far from the glitz and glamour of urban bigshot architects.
AIA Gold Medal
The American Institute of Architecture's highest honor was bestowed on Peter Bohlin, the founder of the Pensylvania-based Bohlin Cywinski Jackson practice. While Bohlin might not be a familiar name to those outside the industry, it is exactly the "humility" of his designs that gained him the prize.
Stirling Prize
Richard Rogers won the most coveted prize in British architecture for his Maggie's Centre, a cancer care center in London.
British Royal Gold Medal
Chinese-born American architect I.M. Pei was honored with the Royal Gold Medal, bestowed by the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his lifetime's work. The 92-year-old, who designed the glass and metal Louvre Pyramid in Paris, will be given the annual special award at the RIBA in London on February 11.
Design Miami: Designer of the Year
The decision to honor the very young Marten Baas following icons such as Zaha Hadid caused controversy in the forefield. But organizers said that "his work has transformed the way collectors understand the landscape of contemporary design and has opened the market to a younger generation of designers."
Design Miami/Basel: Designers of the Future
The Spaniard Nacho Carbonell, London-based Peter Marigold and Raw-Edges and Slovakian Tomáš Gabzdil Libertiny were awarded the prestigious prizes as Designers of the Future, presented annually during the Design Miami/ fair. They all created specially commissioned designs for the event in June.
World Design Capital 2012
Finnish capital Helsinki beat out the Dutch city of Eindhoven because of the city's design initiatives' positive impact on everyday life. It is only the third time that the biennial designation has been bestowed, with Seoul, South Korea having carried the title from 2008 and Turin, Italy preparing to take over in 2010.
Prince Philip Design Award
Andrew Ritchie, creator of the foldable Brompton bike, was named the winner of the longest-running design awards in the UK, beating out fellow creatives such as fashion designer Hussein Chalayan and architect David Adjaye.
International Design Excellence Awards
The recipients of the 2009 IDEA awards displayed a strong focus on sustainability and functionality. Examples include the WEDZE Virtuous, a ski jacket featuring an inflatable vest that allows you to decide how warm you want to be; Teneo Storage Furniture, a 20-parts storage system that can be used to create 80 different products; and the BTS! Dual-Cooking Oven. The Best in Show award went to Nike's Trash Talk, a basketball shoe made from recycled waste championed by NBA player Steve Nash. Over all, Samsung was the biggest winner at the awards claiming eight awards, followed by Apple with seven.
Interieur Foundation's Designer of the Year
This year's honor - bestowed by the organizers of the Interieur biennale in Kortrijk, Belgium - went to Sylvain Willenz, who designed the "world's smallest external hard drive," the XXS, for German multimedia company Freecom, which also won him a Red Dot product design award.
I.D. Annual Design Review
The magazine will continue to organize the longest-running design awards in the US despite recently announcing its closure. This year's list included a "flyover channel" for airplanes (category: concept), which is an open source documentary film channel that gives you information about the places beneath you, a Microsoft desktop application called WorldWide Telescope (category: interactive) that navigates between pictures taken by the Hubble telescope, and a first aid kit designed for Johnson & Johnson (category: packaging), which combines form and function, i.e., is practical and beautiful.
US National Design Awards
Conceived by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the best in American design was honored in New York October 23. The first decade of the award's winners, which was established in 2000, is currently on show as part of the museum's Design USA exhibit on through April 4.
Lifetime Achievement: Bill Moggridge
Design Mind: Amory B. Lovins
Corporate and Institutional Achievement: Walker Art Center
Architecture Design: SHoP Architects
Communication Design: The New York Times Graphics Department
Fashion Design: Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein Collection
Interaction Design: Perceptive Pixel Inc.
Interior Design: TsAO & McKOWN Architects
Landscape Design: Hood Design
Product Design: Boym Partners
World Architecture Festival
A holiday home inspired by the design of an origami Klein bottle and the Havaianas shop in Brazil were among the winners at the World Architecture Festival (WAF), held in Barcelona November 4- 6. WAF is the biggest architecture summit for professionals, with this year's theme 'Less Does More' and a focus on "challenges facing architects in the new world economy."
World Culture Building of the year: Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in The Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa, designed by Peter Rich Architects
World Holiday Building of the year: Restaurant Tusen in the mountain area of Ramundberget, Sweden, designed by Murman Arkitekter
World Shopping Building of the year: Havaianas shop in Sao Paulo, Brazil, designed by Isay Weinfeld
World House of the year: Klein Bottle House in Rye, Australia designed by McBride Charles Ryan
World Housing Development of the year: The Met in Bangkok, Thailand designed by WOHA
World Learning Building of the year: Pearl Academy of Fashion in Jaipur, India designed by Morphogenesis
World New & Old Building of the year: TKTS Booth and the Redevelopment of Father Duffy square in New York City, USA
World Office Building of the year: Unileverhaus in Hamburg, Germany designed by Behnisch Architekten
World Transport building of the year: Singapore station by WOHA
World Sport building of the year: Berry Sports Hall, Berry Australia by Allen Jack & Cottier
World Production, Energy and Recycling building of the year: Bodegas Protos winery in Valladolid, Spain, by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners
World Health building of the year: Teleton Tampico in Tampico, Mexico by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos
World Display building of the year: Barcelona bird cage, in Barcelona, Spain by Battle & Roig Architects
World Civic and community building of the year: Emergency terminal in Zagreb, Croatia by Produkcija 004
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