Adjaye’s Museum of African American History and Culture wins Design of the Year 2017

The Beazley Designs of the Year 2017 have been announced, with The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture by architects Adjaye Associates winning the top prize. “The project is the culmination of a decades-long struggle to recognise the importance of the black community in the social fabric of American life,” the Design Museum said in a statement. David Adjaye’s design created “a strong conceptual resonance with America’s longstanding African heritage,” with features including filigree cladding patterned to reference the history of African American craftsmanship.

Other category winners included the Nike Pro Hijab, a single-layer, stretchy, high-performance Hijab, aiming to “change the face of sport for Muslim women”. The project is said to be inspired by Sarah Attar, who competed at the London 2012 Olympics as Saudi Arabia’s first female Olympic runner.

Air-Ink won the product design category, as the first commercially available ink made from air pollution. It uses the soot from polluted air and uses it as a pigment for black paint and ink pens.

The graphics category was won by The New York Times Magazine Fractured Lands issue, which published a 42,000 word non-fiction narrative by Scott Anderson accompanied by 20 photos by Paolo Pellegrin. The issue told the story of the catastrophe that has fractured the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq 13 years ago, leading to the rise of ISIS and the global refugee crisis.

MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab won the digital category for Rapid Liquid Printing, a technology that allows fast, large-scale 3D printing within a gel suspension, using industrial-grade materials. The transport category was awarded to Scewo, a stairclimbing mobility device for those with disabilities.

All the shortlisted designs are on display at the Design Museum until 18 February.