The prize is awarded to the best design examples (in the broadest sense of the word) from around the world by the London Design Museum. This year the award is being presented for the tenth time: over the past decade, the structures have been awarded the Grand Prix twice: the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku in 2014 and the prefabricated house for refugees Better Shelter from IKEA in 2016. Many nominees of 2017 continue the line of the last laureate: the most Works, from buildings to emojis, aim to make life for the world's most vulnerable populations easier - or to bring their concerns to public attention.
Projects are considered in six nominations: architecture, digital, fashion, graphic design, product design, vehicles. All eligible projects can be viewed here.
Architecture
Warka Water, a project of Arturo Vittori, is used to collect rain, fog and dew and turn them into drinking water: today, for a quarter of the world's population, safe, clean water is practically inaccessible.
Blakstad Haffner Architects' Heinhuset is a memorial on the Norwegian island of Utøya, where 69 people were killed in a 2011 terrorist attack. It encloses part of the cafe building in which 13 teenagers died then. 495 facade planks - the number of survivors after the terrorist attack, 69 columns in the interior - according to the number of victims.
The wooden "Wind and Rain Bridge" in the southern Chinese village of Peitian was built by Hong Kong University professor Donn Holohan, his students and local artisans instead of the one demolished by the flood - without fasteners, according to local traditions.
Also on the list are Kale Builds infrastructure projects for a refugee camp in northern France (architect Granja Hassett, migrants from the Jungle camp and students from the University of Limerick), Lyceum Chorge High School in Kudugou in Burkina Faso (Kéré Architecture) from innovatively applied local materials, as well as three "star buildings":
David Adjaye's Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, OMA's transformation of the Venetian Fondaco dei Tedeschi into a department store, Antwerp Port Authority Zaha Hadid Architects.
Digital design
Pokémon GO by Niantic, design for an exhibition about Parisian Glass House author Pierre Chareau at the New York Jewish Museum (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), groundbreaking 3D printing technology Rapid Liquid Printing (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Steelcase), emojis for women of different professions (Google team), Refugee Text notification system for refugees (Kore M. S. Solvog, Caroline Arvidsson, Kiaran Duffy), Google Noto - a free font for 800 languages and writing systems, from Latin to Egyptian hieroglyphs, aimed at preserving them (Google and Monotype).
Fashion
Pussyhat Project (Christa Su, Jaina Zweiman, Kat Coyle, Aurora Leidy) - pink knitted hats worn by participants and participants of the Women's March in the USA on January 21, 2016, a raincoat of Ecoalf designers from plastic waste extracted from the Mediterranean Sea, clothes and temporary stores for her sales generated for Kanye West's Life of Pablo album (Kanye West and Mat Vlasich for Bravado), Nike Pro hijab (Rachel Henry, Baron Brandt, Megan Sulfeld), Levi's denim minicomputer jacket® Commuter ™ Trucker Jacket with Jacquard ™ by Google.
Graphic design
Spot Her Publicity Ads featuring a very small percentage of women in the Egyptian workforce (IC4DESIGN and DDB Dubai for the UN Women's Committee in Egypt), Wales' national brand logo (Smörgåsbord) by Wolfgang Tillmans to the referendum on the UK's exit from the EU, posters against Brexit, and the lifejacket-inspired flag of the 2016 Olympic refugee team in Rio de Janeiro (Syrian refugee artist Yara Said for Amnesty International).
Object design
Avy drone to help refugees crossing the Mediterranean (Paul Wastert, David Vilemaker, Christian McCabe and Patrick Zaman), BuffaloGrid mobile phone recharging system for inaccessible North Indians (Daniel Becerra), Alphabet of Light LED lights (BIG), AIR-INK Air Pollution Particle Ink (Graviky Labs), Remolten Chilean Lava Furniture (GT2P with Friedman Benda), Wedge Dowel Furniture Fixing System Tool-Free and Adhesive-Free (IKEA),
Nimuno Loops is a flexible Lego (nimuno) mounting strap, The Pilot (Waverly Labs) spoken translation earphone, inspired by the experience of African immigrants in Europe, the Sufferhead Stout (Emeka Ogbo).
Transport
Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) electric unmanned trackless tram, following lines on asphalt (tested in Zhuzhou; project authors - CRRC), 3D-printed Olli (Local Motors) unmanned electric minibus, wheelchair capable of climbing and descending stairs Scewo (students of the Swiss Polytechnic School ETH Zürich).
