{"id":89520,"date":"2026-05-22T11:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/89520\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:26:14","slug":"the-if-design-awards-are-handed-out-in-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/89520\/","title":{"rendered":"The iF Design Awards Are Handed Out in Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n \u2715\n <\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

In late April, thousands of creatives from around the world convened in Berlin for the iF Design Awards. The annual honors, first bestowed in 1954, recognize the best of design across many categories including branding and communication design, packaging, user experience, product design, and architecture. Winners were selected by a jury of 129 renowned practitioners in these fields from 21 countries.<\/p>\n

iF Design CEO Uwe Cremering, who presided over the festivities at Berlin\u2019s Friedrichstadt-Palast, said \u201cDesign increasingly shapes how we build the future\u2014how we take responsibility, use resources wisely, and ensure that new technologies, including AI, serve people rather than replace them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Award recipients ran the gamut, from students and independent designers with small studios to large companies like Samsung, Nissan, and Lufthansa, which, over the decades, have racked up dozens, even hundreds, of iF Design Awards. And all, with rare exception, were in attendance.<\/p>\n

A special honor went to Spanish-born, Milan-based Patricia Urquiola, 65, who received the iF Design Lifetime Achievement Award. Known for her characteristic interior design and products for furniture makers including Cassina, B&B Italia, and Haworth, she has also worked with brands such as Flos, Louis Vuitton, MaxMara, and Duravit. iF recognized her distinctive approach to design, which \u201ccombines sensuality, material exploration, and technological innovation.\u201d Urquiola follows in the footsteps of 2025 winner Norman Foster, and Dieter Rams, who\u2014making his final public appearance\u2014was the inaugural honoree in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Patricia<\/p>\n

\n Patricia Urquiola, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Photo \u00a9 Marlena Waldthausen\n <\/p>\n

Within architecture, dozens of buildings were honored across categories that include public, residential, retail, educational, hospitality, and mixed-use projects, but only a few were designated with the gold award. Among them was the Lindemann Performing Arts Center<\/a> at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, by New York\u2013based REX. The citation notes the Lindemann\u2019s \u201crevolutionary flexibility, enabled by its mechanized gantry, lift, reflector, and riser systems, [which] makes it both a robust academic tool and the world\u2019s most automated performance hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lindemann\"<\/p>\n

\n The volume enclosing Lindemann is clad in aluminum that is fluted, in part to disguise the joints between panels. Photo \u00a9 Iwan Baan\n <\/p>\n

\"Lindemann\"<\/p>\n

\n A performance underway in Lindemann\u2019s main hall.Photo \u00a9 Warren Jagger, courtesy Brown Arts Institute and Brown University\n <\/p>\n

Sou Fujimoto\u2019s dazzling Grand Ring at last year\u2019s Osaka World Expo<\/a> was also honored with gold. Built using a fusion of modern construction techniques and traditional Nuki joints\u2014like those found in Japanese shrines and temples\u2014its elevated circulation served as the main route for visitors. According to the jury, \u201cThe CLT construction and demountable detailing demonstrate true circular thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Grand<\/p>\n

\n Sou Fujimoto\u2019s dazzling 1.2-mile Grand Ring encircles the fair and helps orient visitors, who can walk on and under it.Photo \u00a9 Iwan Baan\n <\/p>\n

A final gold winner also had lofty sustainability goals, but at a much smaller scale. Architect Kazunori Sakai\u2019s 1,200-square-foot house on Japan\u2019s Amami Island is completely off-grid. \u201cWhen I began designing my own house, I never imagined it would eventually be disconnected from the power grid,\u201d Sakai says. \u201cYet, as environmental degradation accelerates and extreme weather becomes the norm, that choice became inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sakai<\/p>\n

\"Sakai<\/p>\n

\n Amami House in Japan by Sakai Architects Photos \u00a9 Toshihisa Ishii\n <\/p>\n

Inspired by the region\u2019s historical bunt\u014d (multi-volume) layout, the house consists of five independent volumes\u2014each serving a distinct function, such as bath, bedroom, and storage\u2014arranged geometrically to create in-between spaces that serve as shared living areas. The roof form reinterprets the local corrugated-metal and irimoya (hip-and-gable roof) profiles, integrating layers of insulation, ventilation, and light control to respond to Amami\u2019s climate.<\/p>\n

Getting the energy equation right, however, took some trial and error. \u201cThe power went out a few times,\u201d Sakai admits. \u201cMy wife was very mad at me.\u201d But after adding more photovoltaics\u2014there are also plans to add a house-scaled wind turbine\u2014the autonomous dwelling allows his young family of four to live comfortably without external electricity or air-conditioning, even under the island\u2019s harsh subtropical conditions. By responding to the unique climate and cultural ecology of its island setting, the house, according to its architect, \u201cquietly reexamines what it means to \u2018inhabit\u2019 in the age of environmental uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2715 In late April, thousands of creatives from around the world convened in Berlin for the iF Design…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[14011,112,190],"class_list":["post-89520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-awards","tag-berlin","tag-germany"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116617988711494790","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}