Top Design Industry Awards of 2019
Pomp, circumstance, and just plain fun—the roster of awards events recognizing the best of the best in the architecture and design community this past year were all that and more. From the Pritzker Prize and UNESCO World Heritage Site status to Interior Design‘s Hall of Fame and Best of Year galas, here are the top industry awards of 2019.
Interior Design’s 35th Annual Hall of Fame Awards
Industry innovators celebrated nearly four decades of design at Interior Design’s 35th annual Hall of Fame gala held at the I.M. Pei-designed River Pavilion at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Editor in Chief Cindy Allen offered a warm welcome, noting that such a “big number” encapsulates many pivotal moments within the community. “To us, when you join our craft you quickly realize time is a different thing all together,” said Allen, shortly before inducting the 2019 honorees: India Mahdavi; Rick Joy of Studio Rick Joy; Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David J. Lewis of LTL Architects; and Paula Wallace of Savannah College of Art & Design, who received a Special Leadership Award. Read more about the awards
Interior Design’s 14th Annual Best of Year Awards
On December 6, Interior Design hosted its 14th annual Best of Year Awards, spotlighting the most impactful projects and products in 2019, at the River Pavilion at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Editor in Chief Cindy Allen and Publisher Carol Cisco took to the stage to announce winners and honorees in 136 design categories ranging from social impact projects to sustainable product design at the celebratory event. “By reviewing the literally thousands of submissions from designers and manufacturers all over the world, we get to see just how intrepid and creative this industry really is,” said Allen.“And boy oh boy, did this year’s BoY (our nickname for Best of Year) give us a world view on design like none other. Read more about the awards
Arata Isozaki Wins the Pritzker Prize
In 1979 when the first Pritzker Prize was given to Philip Johnson, the award was billed as “architecture’s Nobel,” and the site of the ceremony, Washington DC’s Dumbarton Oaks, set a precedent for staging the event in historic buildings with a stature worthy of a Nobel. But with the ceremony honoring this year’s 2019 laureate, Arata Isozaki, held at Versailles, the Pritzker Foundation outdid itself. Louis XIV’s palace, designed by architects then at the cutting edge of their art, elevated the prize by ennobling the 400 guests, who had the entire palace to themselves as they strolled the King’s State Apartments. At the end of the enfilade, they turned left into the Hall of Mirrors, bathed in late afternoon summer light, the crystal chandeliers flinging tiny rainbows onto the gilded walls. Read more about the award
8 Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Awarded World Heritage Status
The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright—which includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City; Fallingwater in Bear Run, Pennsylvania; Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin; and Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona—has been officially added to the UNESCO World Heritage List following a July 7, 2019 vote by the World Heritage Committee. In total, eight buildings by Wright, who ranks among the greatest American architects of the 20thcentury, were designated to join just 16 other World Heritage Sites in the United States and roughly 1,000 around the world. Read more about this award
Cindy Allen, Deborah Berke, and Rosanne Haggerty are Honored at AIA Luncheon
An 800-strong crowd of esteemed design professionals convened at New York’s Cipriani Wall Street for the AIANY Honors and Awards Luncheon, celebrating paradigm-shifting architecture projects and industry notables. Among the thought leaders lauded at the sold-out event were Interior Design’s own Editor in Chief, Cindy Allen, who received the Stephen A. Kliment Oculus Award for her journalistic contributions to the field; Interior Design Hall of Fame member Deborah Berke, who was awarded the Medal of Honor and was was applauded for her “openly collaborative approach” to architecture; and housing equality advocate Rosanne Haggerty, who was given the Award of Merit. Read more about these awards
Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro Wins 2019 Women in Architecture Jane Drew Prize
Elizabeth Diller, founding partner of New York City-based design firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro has won the Architectural Review and Architect’s Journal ‘Women in Architecture’ award. Diller has been awarded the Jane Drew Prize for raising the profile of women architects through creative excellence, according to the Architectural Review. Diller’s accomplishments as an architect are renowned; she frequently leads the most ambitious cultural and civic projects in architecture, among them the London Centre for Music, The Broad art museum in Los Angeles, and The Shed at the Hudson Yards development in New York City—which neighbors the firm’s famed 2016 High Line project. Diller told the Architectural Review and Architect’s Journal that she was “very touched,” to win the Jane Drew Prize. “It is a great honor to be awarded the Jane Drew Prize 2019, and to join such an amazing group of women that came before,” she said. Read more about this award
IIDA Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary with Annual Interior Design Competition
As the International Interior Design Association celebrates its 25th anniversary, its annual Interior Design Competition continues to recognize and encourage innovation in the design and furnishing of interior spaces. Its counterpart, the annual Will Ching Design Competition, is still doing the same with awards for commercial projects by firms with five or less employees. Three of the winning projects had previously been published in our pages: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Optimo hat atelier in Chicago; Asthetíque’s Ice Scream parlor in the Bronx, New York; and One Plus Partnership Limited’s Wuhan Panlong Plaza Yinxing Cinema in China. The IIDA jurors’ also awarded a house in Vinkeveen, Netherlands, by i29 Interior Architects and Chris Collaris Architects, and Yod Design Lab’s Nam Modern Vietnamese Cuisine in Kiev, Ukraine. Another restaurant, Mean Noodles by OpenUU, took home the Will Ching award. Read more about these awards
Jim Jennings Wins the Maybeck Award
The 25th biennial Monterey Design Conference, held October 25-27 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, welcomed more than 800 attendees. Organized by AIA California, the conference draws architects and “design thinkers” for education academy sessions, guest speakers, access to multiple exhibits, tours, and more. Held just minutes away from the beach, MDC provides on inspirational place for design and architecture professionals to network. The conference is also the setting for the announcement of AIA California’s Maybeck Award winner. The 2019 recipient is modernist architect Jim Jennings, who founded San Francisco-based Jim Jennings Architecture in 1975 and has focused on a project’s connection to its landscape and natural light through scale, space, form, and material. Read more about the award
Alexandra Champalimaud Awarded FIT’s Lawrence Israel Prize
This year, the Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) Interior Design department honored Interior Design Hall of Fame member and long-time mentor Alexandra Champalimaud with its 2019 Lawrence Israel Prize. The prestigious award, endowed by architect Lawrence J. Israel and presented annually since 1998, spotlights ideas and work that enrich FIT Interior Design students’ course of study. Champalimaud, founder of the now New York-based studio Champalimaud Design, built her career on grit and intuition. She first opened her design studio in Montreal, Canada more than 30 years ago after fleeing political unrest in Portugal, and quickly gained international acclaim for her work. Read more about the award
Suzie Williford Inducted into NKBA Hall of Fame and Others Honored
At KBIS 2019, the National Kitchen and Bath Association named the most recent inductees to its Hall of Fame. NKBA Executive Vice President of Industry Relations and Chief Strategy Officer Suzie Williford was inducted in recognition of more than a decade of service to the association. An industry veteran with over 35 years of experience, Williford has volunteered with the NKBA for well ver a decade and served 10 years on the board of directors. Additional Hall of Fame honorees included designer Ann Morris, who was recognized posthumously for her longtime support of the NKBA and is remembered for her lifelong love of color. Bill Woodall was also asked by the association to honor his father, Vent-A-Hood CEO William “Skip” Woodall III, who was inducted for his contributions as a 41-year NKBA member. Read more about these awards
