The Szczecin Philharmonic Acknowledged by the London’s Design Museum

filharmonia_w_szczecinie_a_2.jpg, small, The Mieczysław Karłowicz Szczecin Philharmonic, photo: Dariusz Gorajski / Szczecin City Council, The Szczecin Philharmonic Acknowledged by the London’s Design Museum

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The Szczecin Philharmonic is among the 15 nominees in the Architecture category of the Designs of the Year 2015 competition organised by the Design Museum in London.

The Design Museum in London was established in 1989 and has since become one of the top institutions associated with studying, collecting and popularisation of design. What’s important to note is that the institution is continuously widening its range of operation area; 30 years ago design related to furniture and objects of every day use – today design is also websites and mobile applications. And these kinds of exhibits are showcased on the museum’s exhibitions.

One of the yearly organised events is the Designs of the Year competition. In 2015 the 8^th edition of the plebiscite will take place. The competition aims to select the most interesting realisations from the broad sphere of design, in categories including Architecture, Digital Projects, Fashion, Graphics, Product and Transport. As the organisers stress, the award is presented to not just the most interesting or the best product, but to creators of those realisations, which best express the “mood of the year”, i.e. the ones that combine the most actual needs, aspirations, fashion, ideas.

The process of selection of the best pieces in the Design of the Year comprises multiple stages. February is the month of nominations: in 2015 over 76 different projects (from buildings, through cars, chairs, dresses to websites) have been nominated for one of the six categories. Laureates of each category will be announced on the 5^th May, while on the 4^th June, the jury will announce the top of the tops – i.e. an overall laureate of the Design of the Year 2015 edition. In 2014 the grand prix was presented to Zaha Hadid for the Heydar Alyev Cultural Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan. A year earlier the jury awarded the new layout of the British Government website – gov.uk, while in 2012 – the design of the Olympic Torch, which was used during the London’s Olympics.

Before we’ll find out the laureate of this year’s grand prix, we’ll keep our fingers crossed for the Polish nominee of the Architecture category: the Szczecin Philharmonic, designed by Barozzi Veiga studio, is one of the 15 nominees in this category. The Polish edifice will compete against projects such as the Parisian Foundation Louis Vuitton designed by Gehry partners, House for Trees created by a Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia Architects or One Central Park, a pair of plant-covered Sydney towers designed by Jean Nouvel.

The jury of Designs of the Year 2015 commented on each of the nominated objects with just one sentence. The Szczecin Philharmonic was described as “a shimmering venue inspired by the city skyline”. Will the Szczecin “iceberg” defeat the artworks of the starchitects?

Each of the nominated projects will be exhibited at the Design Museum in London from the 23^rd March to 23^rd August. The artworks are also available on the website of the Design Museum.

Edit. Anna Cymer, transl. Agata Dudek

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