Hadid Building Wins Design of the Year 2014
London's Design Museum has awarded Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Design Museum Design of the Year Award 2014. It is the first architectural project to be named Design of the Year in its seven-year history.
Hadid beat out six other competitors, the winners in the other six categories – digital, fashion, furniture, graphics, product, and transport – as we reported in April. Jury chair Ekow Eshun said of the Heydar Aliyev Center: "It’s beautiful, it’s inspiring, it’s the clear vision of a singular genius and we thought it was a remarkable piece of work." Other members of the jury* reiterated Eshun's comments, dropping phrases like "stunning and iconic," "intoxicatingly beautiful," "pure and sexy," and "a pinnacle moment in [Hadid's] portfolio."
Hadid's statement on the award: "We’re absolutely delighted to receive the Design of the Year Award. The surface of the Heydar Aliyev Centre’s external plaza rises and folds to define a sequence of public event spaces within; welcoming, embracing and directing visitors throughout the building. It’s an architectural landscape where concepts of seamless spatial flow are made real – creating a whole new kind of civic space for the city."
Hadid's unanimous victory, as mentioned, is the first time an architectural project has been named Design of the Year. Previous winners** have tended to fall into the product, graphics, and digital categories.
*The Design of the Year 2014 jury:
Ekow Eshun, writer, journalist and broadcaster - Chair of the jury
Tina Gaudoin, Acting Editor in Chief of Elle Decoration
Piers Gough, CZWG Architects LLP
Frith Kerr, Studio Frith
Ben Terrett, Government Digital Service
**Previous Design of the Year Winners:
2012 London 2012 Olympic Torch, by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby
2011 Plumen 001 by Samuel Wilkinson and Hulger
2010 Folding Plug by Min-Kyu Choi
2009 Barack Obama Poster by Shepard Fairey
2008 One Laptop Per Child by Yves Béhar