German Design Council features the German Design Awards 2022

Do we still need to introduce the German Design Awards? After all, the prize awarded by the German Design Council is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. In the past decade, it has built up a strong reputation and developed international appeal. Lutz Dietzold, Managing Director of the German Design Council, can be satisfied: ‘The prize has really developed very well, in directions that we could not have imagined at the time. The holistic approach has turned out to be exactly the right one.’

Companies – as well as architects, interior designers, and professionals from product and communication design – have trust in the prize. But where does this trust come from? Most likely, it’s the result of three factors: the reputation of the awarding institution, the composition of the jury and the fact that it’s now been around for ten years. For example, anyone who has personally experienced how the German Design Awards became a real communication tool, leading to coverage, new contacts and customers, already has the decisive arguments for the award at hand.

When I looked at the members of the jury for the German Design Awards 2022, I had to smile: so many familiar faces! I got to know designer and visiting professor Janice Kirkpatrick as a student at the Glasgow School of Art, and I have many good memories of meetings with Nicolette Naumann, Silvia Olp, Mark Braun, Reinhard Pascher, Armin Illion and Markus Weisbeck. This year, the international jury is comprised of a total of 37 people who, with their expert competencies, took on the tasks of selection and evaluation.

The award is not just about beautiful shapes and elegant surfaces, but about tangible solutions developed with innovative strategies. Because designers help shape the future of all of us and create added value for society. The German Design Awards is distinguished by the fact that it recognises answers to particularly difficult problems, promotes those involved in finding their solutions and creates greater publicity for them.

While the traditional, festive Ambiente awards ceremony was cancelled once again due to the pandemic – a decision that was ultimately the right one but, nonetheless, certainly not an easy for the organisers to take – fortunately, there are still other ways to find out more about the award-winning designs. Firstly, there is the specially set-up website.

And in addition, an exhibition at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt from 11–27 February will show the winning contributions in the fields of architecture and design. Entitled ‘How Designers Think’, the category winners in ‘Excellent Communications Design’, ‘Excellent Product Design’ and ‘Excellent Architecture’, as well as the Newcomer finalists and the ‘Personality of the Year’ will also be presented.

Berlin designer Anne Bansen is the proud recipient of the Newcomer award, which promotes talented young designers and is decorated with a 15,000 EU prize. In addition to the financial support, Bansen and four other finalists will also receive access to the international contact network of the German Design Council.

Bansen is being recognised for her innovative and aesthetically convincing approach to global design, with the topic of safety in everyday life playing a central role in her work – a factor which should set her up for further future success. GDA’s ‘Personality of the Year’ 2022 is a true legend – an architect who values clarity and a sense of proportion above all: David Chipperfield.

For many years, Chipperfield’s Japanese-influenced, minimalist formal language has taken concrete shape in his immediately recognisable structures around the world. Chipperfield buildings – such as the recently completed extension of the Kunsthaus Zurich, the Literaturmuseum der Moderne in Marbach or the extension of the Folkwang Museum – show, according to the jury's statement, ‘a sovereign handling of light, space and material.’

First prize in the fields of architecture and interior architecture was awarded to projects that blend harmoniously with nature, integrate cultural values and include either ecological or social components. A prime example is ICI Architecture’s ‘Six-Directions Meditation Courtyard House’: the harmonious design follows a Buddhist worldview with its extraordinary architecture and blends in seamlessly with its surrounding environment.

Jiakun Architects’ design for the ‘Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick’, also awarded gold, combines traditional Chinese and modern architectural elements to create a cultural synthesis that showcases the art of brickmaking in the imperial kiln. A German project completes the ranks for the highest award: the new underground station of the 'Rotes Rathaus' City Hall in central Berlin.

Developed by Collignon Architektur und Design GmbH for BVG, the building’s shapes reflect the movement and dynamic of underground travel while uniform colours and clear lines help reassure anxious passengers.

And what’s on the German Design Award’s travel itinerary, you may ask? Next stop is the call for entries 2023 – a year that hopefully witnesses the return of an in-person awards ceremony, glamour, and overjoyed winners in front of a captive audience.

© Architonic