The 2018 Good Design Awards were announced at the Sydney Opera House last weekend at the 60th annual Good Design Awards Ceremony. The Good Design Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious international Awards for design and innovation with a proud history dating back to 1958.
The Awards celebrate the best new products and services on the Australian market, excellence in architectural design, digital and communication design, engineering design and fashion design as well as rewarding emerging areas of design including business model innovation and social impact. We couldn’t bring you them all but here’s a selection of our favourites:
202020 Green Design Award
Best in Class: Architectural Design – Urban Design
Entry: Sydney Park water re-use project
Designed by: Turf Design Studio and Environmental Partnership | Public Art: Turpin + Crawford | Studio Ecology: Dragonfly | Environmental Contractor: Design Landscapes | Plant Suppliers: Andreasens Green, Toolijha Structural | Engineering: Partridge and Arup | Lighting and Electrical: Lighting Art and Science | Irrigation: HydroPlan | Soils: SESL Australia | Environmental Management: A.D. Envirotech Australia
Judges’ Comments: An inspiring project that lifts the spirits and shows the way forward environmentally. This project exemplifies the true integration of public art, engineering, water treatment, public wayfinding and recreation. This treasured green open space represents a significant asset to the south Sydney community at a time when green space is under threat from a revival of major road infrastructure in established communities.
Good Design Award® of the Year Nominee
Best in Class: Architectural Design – Commercial and Residential
Entry: Nightingale1
Designed by: Breathe Architecture | Openwork / Oculus | Hip V. Hype | Hansen Partnership | Metro Building | Form Structures | Lucid Consulting | Thomas Nicolas | Arup | Morris Access Consulting | Dekkerspec | Leigh Design | Websters and Peter Rickard Environmental | Peter Ramsay and Assoc. | Compass Environmental
Judges’ Comments: This is an exceptional project that has successfully redefined the multi-residential development model. Nightingale 1 is an exemplary example of social sustainability through good design. It’s rare for a project to light a genuinely new path for design to make an impact across an entire sector and offer communities new options that are better, more sustainable, more socially cohesive and equitable. What a great example of the power of design thinking to unlock the potential for better, more holistically sustainable cities by redesigning the development model.
Best in Class: Architectural Design – Interior Design
Entry: PWC Sydney client collaboration floors
Designed by: Futurespace
Judges’ Comments: A brilliant example of the potential of good design to impact business, executed in an elegant presence that aligns with current brand. An inspiring design outcome that connects design and business outcomes in a clever, refined and considered manner. This is design excellence at its best.
Best in Class: Product Design – Domestic Appliances
Entry: Electrolux ComfortLift™ dishwasher
Designed by: Electrolux In-House Design Team (Sweden)
Judges’ Comments: Brilliant design and beautifully resolved. Soft closing feature is great and the machine just works. Finally, a dishwasher which offers a variety of very functional and useful features. It is also very user-friendly by making the loading and unloading much more convenient and back friendly. Keeping in mind that we are moving towards an aging population, this product allows users to empty the dishwasher without bending down. Beautiful, considered design that solves a problem in an elegant and simple way. The Electrolux Design Team should be congratulated for an outstanding design project.
Joint Best in Class: Product Design – Furniture and Lighting
Entry: ZETR trimless outlets and switches
Designed by: Garth Elliott, ZETR
Judges’ Comments: Beautiful, clever and in tune with contemporary bathroom design. Just a beautiful, simple solution that will open up so many interior design possibilities. The clean flush fittings will enhance any interior space and the modularity of the design allows installation within various wall types and thicknesses – all achieving a beautiful flush finish. Game changer.
Joint Best in Class: Product Design – Hardware and Building
Entry: Latch C
Designed by: Meyerhoffer (USA)
Judges’ Comments: Beautiful to behold and touch and move. Great multi-locking features. Good, good, good design! Really nice to see this company continually innovating and refining an already solid product. This iteration is as good as it gets and sets the benchmark good design in this category.
Joint Best in Class: Product Design – Hardware and Building
Entry: Methven Tūroa shower
Designed by: Methven Global Design and Innovation Team (NZ)
Judges’ Comments: Exceptional design with amazing resolution. This is a stunning product in every regard. Beautiful to behold and use. The design team have thrown everything at this and the end product is as good as it gets. Simple, elegant design that you can see and feel immediately. Clearly a design-led process that has resulted in a world-class product that deserves the highest level of recognition in its category.
The 60th Good Design Awards attracted record entries of 536 innovative designs with 269 projects selected to receive a coveted Good Design Award®. Of these, there are 30 Best in Class Award Winners from which the Good Design Award® of the Year is chosen.
For more information and to see all the winners from all the categories visit good-design.org/good-design-index/
