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Unprecedented times call for unprecedented innovation, but the best innovations rely on one age-old key: collaboration. Even under unusual circumstances, the Lexus Design Award continued on a foundation of mentorship and partnership to bring six new creative leaders’ ideas into reality. The Grand Prix winner, BellTower’s Open Source Communities concept, represents the nuanced and civically-minded spirit that’s guiding the future of design.
Since 2013, the Lexus Design Award has drawn ambitious creators from around the world seeking a launchpad to design by the principle, “Design for a better tomorrow.” This year, 2,042 entrants from 79 countries competed for the chance to be mentored by four renowned designers over months of making their concepts into concrete prototypes. Shohei Shigematsu, partner and director of OMA New York as well as one of this year’s mentors, sees the program as much bigger than a single prize; it’s a growth opportunity akin to design school. Shigematsu also drew inspiration from this year’s finalists, who had an eye toward social change, sustainability, and addressing some of society’s most pressing issues.
This year’s entrants went above and beyond in anticipating and addressing the challenges of the future, while prioritizing user experience and working to capture the imagination with their design solutions. When it was time to present their ideas to Lexus Design Award’s 2020 panel of judges, the onset of a global pandemic presented one more challenge for all the participants, taking the judging process into a virtual space. “Despite the logistical, physical and psychological barriers created by the COVID crisis, this years’ entrants provided a stunning diversity of ideas, approaches and passion,” says judge Simon Humphries, head of Toyota & Lexus Global Design.
Though the judges missed seeing the physical prototypes in person, they were impressed by the variety and ambition of this year’s projects. “At different moments in time, design has celebrated either bold aesthetics, extreme functionality, or even humor and wit,” says 2020 judge Jeanne Gang, architect/founding principal and partner of Studio Gang. “But today with our world plagued with the enormous issues of climate change and social inequity, there is a design imperative for systemic design solutions.”
This imperative clearly provided the backbone for every finalist. The group Sutherlin Santo dreamed up materials called Biocraft, a combination of natural biopolymers with emerging technology, which could be used in everyday applications to actively remove carbon dioxide from the air and disseminate nutrients. Théophile Peju and Salvatore Cicero developed Feltscape, a cloud made of felt and recycled bio-plastic that would sync with users’ breath using sensors. Yaokun Wu’s Flash Pak is a life jacket that would also help guide users to safety in high-risk flooding areas. Irina Samoilova’s L.I.C.K. harnesses the mechanisms of a cat’s tongue in the form of a portable devise that would help people without access to a bath stay clean. And Aqsa Ajmal created Pursewit, a sewing machine designed for the visually impaired.
This year’s Grand Prix winner, the Kenya-based design group BellTower, stood out with their big-picture vision and incorporation of multiple critical skills, including risk management, information technology, design, project management, and strategy. Starting close to home, they sought to address just how difficult it can be to obtain clean water in some parts of Kenya, where 40 percent of the population relies on unimproved water resources like ponds, shallow wells, and rivers. Open Source Communities proposes water resource centers that would serve communities in developing countries. Using sustainable materials, the building itself would be designed to last, with solar cells as well as a roof that would move to catch as much rainwater as possible—an estimated 10,000 liters during a 30-minute downpour in Nairobi! After unclean water is sent to bio-sand filters, it’s then transferred to an outlet station. The whole structure incorporates smart technology, with options to control the roof and be notified of water quality all on a cell phone. Perhaps most importantly, these units would be affordable and community-owned, a critical logistical point that the BellTower team emphasized for these structures’ potential to improve health and safety outcomes all over the world.
Judge John Maeda, technologist/chief experience officer of Publicis Sapient, called it a “perfect embodiment of the ethos that design needs to represent today.” And the BellTower team left the months-long mentorship process with an impressive plan for the future and lasting relationships. “Our LDA experience has taught us invaluable lifelong lessons,” says John Brian Kamau of BellTower. “All our future designs will be aligned with the key principles as part of the Lexus family.”
In keeping with the competition’s values, it’s important to keep looking forward. Lexus has invited design professionals, students, and enthusiasts from around the world to enter for the 2021 award, with ideas that make creative use of design and technology for a better tomorrow. Entrants will submit a design proposal that describes their idea and how a prototype would be produced; two to six images of the work and how it would be used; and an explanation of how their work would benefit society, demonstrate originality, and captivate users.
Lexus and their network of designers look forward to offering a new class of competitors a rich opportunity to learn and connect. As 2020 finalists Sutherlin Santo put it, “We entered this competition hoping to develop a single design, but we’re leaving it with a foundation for a design practice.” Learn more about the Lexus Design Award here.
This story was produced by WIRED Brand Lab for Lexus.
