Dezeen recently announced the winners for their 2023 awards cycle. Described as "a benchmark for international design excellence," the annual design awards included a list of 50 winners across the fields of architecture, interiors, and design in their sixth iteration. The Dezeen Awards 2023 were presented to 39 winners in individual categories, with four overall projects of the year winners in the general categories created by Dezeen: Architecture, Interiors, Design and Sustainability. Apart from recognising design projects, six practices and individual designers were announced as the Designers of the Year.

From architecture projects that address immediate problems such as; housing to projects cultivating community and social bonds; designs that address accessibility and attempt to provide solutions to our diminishing resources. Head of Dezeen Awards, Claire Barrett commented, “Dezeen Awards reflects the cutting edge of the industry globally and sets the agenda [for the design community]. As well as showcasing great design and designers, these winning projects demonstrate how design can be a powerful tool for change.” Notably, a new award replaced the Media category, the Bentley Lighthouse Award, which recognised 'a designer who seeks to create a better world.' This was rewarded to Bonnie Hvillum of Copenhagen-based Natural Material Studio, with the judges commending the studio for their bio-based material research.

A glimpse at the winners of this year’s Dezeen Awards reveals projects that are not only beautiful, innovative, or beneficial but works that present the larger architecture and design community with possible blueprints for the future.

Architecture

This year’s winners in the architecture category showcased an inherent understanding and care for the context and communities they are based in, as exemplified by the category winner and subcategory winner in education design, the Simba Vision Montessori School by Tanzanian architectural office, Architectural Pioneering Consultants. As the judges commented, “A truly sustainable project with a very limited budget, the building provides a much-needed educational building for the local community that is responsive to people, place and purpose,” the school addresses the major challenges of our time: limited resources, inflation and unequal access. The winners in the 16 subcategories similarly attempt to address pressing issues that affect the planet through contextual design.

For instance, both urban and rural house winners, Spruce House and Studio by ao-ft in London, and Mud House by Sketch Design Studio in India make innovative use of local materials and techniques; while winners in the Housing and Civic project subcategories, Nightingale Village (a project in collaboration with several Australian architecture practices) and Lea Bridge Library by Studio Weave focus on community and well-being. Other notable winners include the 32° East Arts Centre by New Makers Bureau for cultural project; Lumi Shala by Indonesia-based Ibuku Studio (health and well-being project); the Kingway Brewery Renovation by Chinese architecture studio URBANUS Architecture & Design Inc (heritage project); and the community-oriented Kithara Music Public Kiosk by Mexican architects TO Arquitectura (small project).

Interiors

While architecture is poised to address larger societal problems, interior design evolved to delight visitors and occupants, providing a comfortable, immersive environment. That said, in an age where our population grows by leaps and bounds while our resources continue to dwindle, designers must take into account the materials they use while designing. Exemplifying a sustainable, specific and poetic approach to interiors is the category winner in Interior Design: Xocol by Mexican architecture studio, Ruben Valdez Practice.

Other winners in the subcategories include the conversion of a historic plaza into a hotel by Patricia Urquiola (also the Interior Designer of the Year) for Six Senses Rome which won the hotel and short-stay interior subcategory; the minimal, brutalist office design for Studio Reisinger by Spanish architecture studio Isern Serra (workplace interior (small)); and The Golden Age of Grotesque, an exhibition on Paula Rego at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover by Didier Fiúza Faustino and Mesarchitecture (exhibition design (interior)).

Design

The projects that won in the nine subcategories showcase the power of design not just as a tool to bring about change but as a tool to make our lives better. The winner of the overall category for instance, the CIONIC™ Neural Sleeve designed by US-based fuseproject in collaboration with CIONIC™ serves millions of people suffering from muscular degenerative diseases. The sleek design conceals complex electronics, removing the stigma of having to wear medical support by presenting a “perfect marriage of science, technology and design.”

The winners in this category showcase how innovative work can still be beautiful like the Lightly chair by Noho which won in the furniture design subcategory; 32°N Sunglasses by Deep Optics (Product design (consumer design and wearables)); or the lighting design winner Knuckle light by HEM/David Taylor. Other winners included the Novartis Pavillon, a zero-energy media façade by iart ag (Architectural lighting design); Lumber by Mizetto (Workplace design); Nu by Studio Inma Bermúdez for Roca (Product design (bathroom and kitchen)); the French Pavilion’s Ball Theatre installation at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale designed by Studio Muoto (Installation design); and Second Sea by Accept & Proceed (Graphic design).

Sustainability

Divided into six subcategories (opposed to the three from last year), the category showcases how sustainability has become a pervasive factor in our lives and a major consideration for designers. The winners in the category showcase the breadth of work being done to ensure we minimally affect a fragile planet, from research into bio-based materials to architecture’s agency in controlling the misuse of resources and abetting climate change. The overall winner in the category was the refurbishment of Park Hill by British architects Mikhail Riches which was also lauded for its sensitive approach to renovation. 

Other notable winners included the Erosion Mitigation Units designed by Reef Design Lab that offers an alternative to traditional coastal erosion defences with a biophilic design showcasing the interconnectedness of nature and the built; The Mills Fabrica Investment Fund by Colorifix Limited, a project that explores how textiles can be dyed using biofabrication; and PulpaTronics which created trackable RFID tags using biomaterials.

Designer of the Year

This year, instead of awarding Studio prizes, Dezeen honoured established design studios and emerging talents with the title of Designer of the Year. The awards recognised the Sweden-based White Arkitekter’s as the Architects of the Year, noting “over 70 years since it was founded, the shared-ownership studio is a leading voice in the drive towards more sustainable buildings.” The title of Emerging architect went to Sumayya Vally who was the youngest-ever designer of the Serpentine Pavilion and has garnered attention as being the artistic director for the first Islamic Arts Biennale.

Milan-based designer Patricia Urquiola was commended for her interior projects that include hotels and residential designs, that have demonstrated a sensitive response to their context, winning Interior Designer of the Year. On the other hand, the “bold colours, striking patterns, amorphous forms and undulating lines” in the interior projects of Paris-based studio Uchronia won them the Emerging Interior Designer title. Pearson Lloyd, the London-based designers were felicitated with the title of Designer of the Year, recognising the studio’s “aim to deliver maximum benefit with minimal planetary burden.” To cap off the list, Dutch designer Audrey Large, known for her unique visual language for artefacts from furniture and homeware to abstract sculptures won the Emerging Designer of the Year.