The event is a celebration of the very best people, places and designs as selected by Wallpaper* magazine. Part of this year’s international judging panel who have selected the magazine’s major awards is Benoit Jacob, Head of BMW i Design: “I am thrilled to be one of the judges. It’s always exciting and inspiring to see design completely detached from the conventional perspective of the automotive sector.”
Joining Benoit on the six strong panel is artist Marina Abramovic; internet entrepreneur Nick d'Aloisio; Wallpaper* 2014 designers of the year, Neri & Hu; landscape designer Piet Oudolf and Brazilian architect, Isay Weinfeld.
The Judges’ Awards comprises a total of eleven categories including Designer of the Year, Best Domestic Design, Best New Hotel and Life-enhancer of the Year. All other awards have been chosen by Wallpaper* editors and global contributors.
The winners of this year’s prestigious Judges’ Awards include Tokyo for Best City, Herzog & de Meuron’s Pérez Art Museum Miami for Best New Public Building with Patricia Urquiola and Konstantin Grcic being jointly named as Designer of the Year.
This year also sees the debut of a readers’ award based on an online vote and jointly conferred by BMW i: the BMW i Urban Sustainability Award honours exceptionally innovative and visionary products, concepts and ideas which – like the vehicles by BMW i – help save resources and reduce our ecological footprint. Around a third of all readers’ votes went to the “LEED Dynamic Plaque” display panel. Jointly developed by LEED and IDEO, it shows the sustainability rating of buildings in five categories on a scale of one to 100. The categories include water and energy consumption as well as waste production of the relevant building.
Tony Chambers, Editor-in-Chief Wallpaper*: “We are delighted that BMWi is supporting this year's awards. We could not imagine a more fitting partnership. Their exceptional line of emission-free electric cars are driving us towards the better-designed, more sustainable world that Wallpaper* has championed since we launched.”
The production models of the BMW i brand – the all-electric urban BMW i3 and the sporty BMW i8 plug-in hybrid – will be on display during the evening event. Both cars are engrossing overall concepts, with every detail specifically adapted to the purpose of the relevant model and systematically developed with sustainability in mind, say the publishers.
