The Design Educates Awards has launched its new edition to recognize, showcase, and promote globally the best ideas and implementations of architecture and design that can educate for 2021. 

The design itself may provide an informative and educational layer that guides us through the increasing complexity of our environment. The objects in our surroundings can communicate important values and guide us through desirable, positive practices. 

Each year, the esteemed panel of judges selects the outstanding ideas and implementations in the categories of architectural design, product design, universal design, and responsive design. 

All architects and designers can register to the competition until February 1, 2021. Regular registrations end on January 1, 2021. World Architecture Community is official Media Partner for the 2021 Design Educates Awards and will share the results of the competition during this time. 

Jury panel of Design Educates Awards 2021.

Jury

Jury of the edition 2021 has been joined by among others:

Prof. Toyo Itō (Architect, Toyo Ito & Associates, Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize)

Prof. Alison Brooks (Architect, principal and creative director at Alison Brooks Architects)

Prof. Farshid Moussavi (Architect, Professor in practice at Harvard GSD, Founder of FMA)

Hani Rashid (Architect, designer, co-founder of Asymptote, Head of Studio_Hani Rashid)

Alain Gilles (Art director, product and furniture designer, founder of Alain Gilles The Studio)

Andrés Reisinger (Artist, director, designer & founder Reisinger Studio)

David Basulto (Founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of ArchDaily)

Enrica Cavarzan, Marco Zavagno (Designers, co-founders of Zaven)

Hadi Teherani (Architect, designer, founder Hadi Teherani AG)

Hella Jongerius (Industrial designer, founder of Jongeriuslab)

Issa Diabaté (Architect, co-founder and managing director of Koffi & Diabaté Group)

Prof. Jürgen Mayer H. (Architect, artist, founder of J. MAYER H)

Konstantin Grcic (Industrial designer, founder of Konstantin Grcic Design GmbH)

Ir. Kristina Bacht (Publishing director, curator, director of AIT-ArchitekturSalons)

Aidin Ardjomandi (Industrial designer, founder of Ardjou Design Studio)

Dr. Peter Kuczia (Architect, designer, initiator of the Design Educates Awards)

The full list of juries is presented on the website of the awards. 

Schedule

Registration opens in September 2020

Early registration: until October 1, 2020

Regular registration: until January 1, 2021

Late registration: until February 1, 2021

Project submission deadline: February 2, 2021

Jury deliberation: February 2021

Announcement of winners: March 1, 2021

Awards ceremony 2021: 22 & 23 April, 2021

(Awards ceremony 2020: 12 & 13 November, 2020)

Please follow the official website of the awards for possible changes in the schedule.

UTC time zone for all dates. 

Awards

The Design Educates Awards are open to everyone. The winners, laureates of prizes, honorable mentions, and nominations will be selected in each category: (1) architectural design, (2) product design, (3) universal design, and (4) responsive design. In addition to the general evaluation, the student project with the highest score will be awarded the label of Emerging Designers. Parallel to the jury’s evaluation, representatives of Solarlux will select the laureates of Solarlux Choice. 

Participants can submit multiple designs in the same category, multiple designs in different categories, or a single design in more than one category, in teams or individually. Winners will be awarded: (1) Certificates for all laureates; (2) Participation in exhibition and award ceremony; (2) Press packages (logotypes & banners); (3) Promotion within the group of Media Sponsors and Media Supporters of the awards (and beyond!); (4) Financial awards for participants of student categories (1250 USD: Winner of Emerging designer, Net values after taxation: 1000 USD).

Ceremony

The awards ceremony will take place during the Architecture in Foyer 2021 conference at the Solarlux Campus in Germany (Melle, Lower Saxony, Germany) on 22 & 23 April 2021. 

The conference will be hosted by Solarlux GmbH (the partner of the awards) and will consist of an exhibition of the results of the ‘Design Educates Awards,’ lectures by distinguished architects and designers, laureates’ presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities. 

Participation in the awards ceremony is free of charge (registration is required). Due to the ongoing global situation related to COVID, please follow the updates about the event on the official website: www.architektur-im-foyer.com/en/.

Free Participation

Please invite your friends to join the awards, help us to spread the word about the idea of the design that educates, and receive free access to the Design Educates Awards 2021 (without registration fees). On the website of the awards, you will find a contact form, where you can share info about the competition with your friends, and receive your coupon. All registration fees and donations are spent on the further development of the awards.

Participation Fees

The registration fees (specified on the website) support the statutory activity of the Laka Foundation (host, non-profit). At the Design Educates Awards, we will never charge you any hidden costs. 

The only fee is the registration fee which is visible during the registration. If you are in a difficult financial situation, not able to pay the participation fee, not able to use the free participation (described above), and currently studying, please contact us: you will be able to apply for additional discounts.

Join

The awards are a multidisciplinary call for ideas and implementations in the categories of (1) architectural design, (2) product design, (3) universal design, and (4) responsive design. Deliberation about the entries will consist of two phases: (1) selection of the finalists and (2) selection of winners and laureates of honorable mentions. Entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria: feasible, verifiable, visionary, original, and comprehensive. Participants may submit multiple projects; each entry must be registered separately. There is no limit as to the number of participants per team. Individual entries are allowed. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged to join. The theme of the awards has been inspired by the research called ‘Educating Buildings’ (‘Bildende Bauten’) by Dr. Peter Kuczia.

The host of the Design Educates Awards is Laka Foundation (nonprofit).

Poster image credits from left to right: (Toyo Itō © Yoshiaki Tsutsui, Alison Brooks © Mark Haddon, Konstantin Grcic © Gerhardt Kellermann, Kristina Bacht © Petra Steiner, Hadi Teherani © Hadi Teherani AG, Farshid Moussavi © Haruko Tomioka, Hani Rashid © Naho Kubota, Enrica Cavarzan © Marco Cappelletti, Jürgen Mayer H © J. MAYER H, David Basulto © Matti Ostling ArkDes, Hella Jongerius © Roel van Tour, Alain Gilles © Alain Gilles The Studio, Issa Diabaté © Koffi & Diabaté Group, Andrés Reisinger © Dimitri Daniloff, Aidin Ardjomandi © Aidin Ardjomandi, Marco Zavagno © Marco Cappelletti,  Peter Kuczia ©  Peter Kuczia).

All images courtesy of Design Educates Awards

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