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Lego Braille and social housing among 2020 design awards hopefuls

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Goldsmith Street, by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, is one of the 74 projects featured in the 2020 Beazley Designs of the Year shortlist
Design Museum/Tim Crocker
Goldsmith Street, by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, is one of the 74 projects featured in the 2020 Beazley Designs of the Year shortlist
Design Museum/Tim Crocker
Goldsmith Street, by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The project is an excellent example of affordable social housing that's energy efficient and green
Design Museum/Tim Crocker
L'Arbre is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The project, by OXO Architects and Japan's Sou Fujimoto Architects, resembles a huge pinecone and provides residents with outdoor terrace areas in France
Design Museum/Iwan Baan
L'Arbre is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The project, by OXO Architects and Japan's Sou Fujimoto Architects, resembles a huge pinecone and provides residents with outdoor terrace areas in France
Design Museum/Iwan Baan
Leishenshan Hospital, by 10,000 workers, is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The makeshift hospital is located in Wuhan, China, and was constructed by 10,000 construction workers over 12 days to deal with COVID-19 cases. Once complete, it provided 1,500 beds
Design Museum
Leishenshan Hospital, by 10,000 workers, is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The makeshift hospital is located in Wuhan, China, and was constructed by 10,000 construction workers over 12 days to deal with COVID-19 cases. Once complete, it provided 1,500 beds
Design Museum
UCCA Dune Art Museum, by OPEN Architecture, is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The unusual building is carved into a sand dune on a quiet beach on the coast of northern China
Design Museum/Wuqing Shan
UCCA Dune Art Museum, by OPEN Architecture, is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The unusual building is carved into a sand dune on a quiet beach on the coast of northern China
Design Museum/Wuqing Shan
The Uncensored Library is shortlisted in the Digital category. It was designed by Reporters Without Borders, in collaboration with DDB Germany, blockworks, MediaMonks, and The Humblebrag, and creates an uncensored library within the video game Minecraft, allowing people to access censored documents and reports
Design Museum
The Irishman De-Ageing Technology is shortlisted in the Digital category. Industrial Light & Magic used age-defying VFX tech to enable director Martin Scorsese to depict veteran actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci as young men in the hit movie The Irishman
Design Museum
ICEYE One-Metre Radar Satellite Imaging, by Rafal Modrzewski and Pekka Laurila, is shortlisted in the Digital category. It's hailed as the first radar satellite imaging technology to achieve better than 1-m (3.2-ft) resolution using a satellite that weighs under 100 kg (220 lb)
Design Museum
Dakala Cloth - A New African Textile is shortlisted in the Fashion Category. It was developed by Nigeria's Nkwo Design Studio to reduce textile waste and preserve a traditional craft form and was made by sewing together waste items into new garments
Design Museum
Dakala Cloth - A New African Textile is shortlisted in the Fashion Category. It was developed by Nigeria's Nkwo Design Studio to reduce textile waste and preserve a traditional craft form and was made by sewing together waste items into new garments
Design Museum
3D rendering of SARS-CoV-2 is shortlisted in the Graphics category. The project was created by Alissa Eckert (MSMI) and Dan Higgins (MAMS) and was commissioned to help raise public awareness about the dangers of COVID-19
Design Museum
Color of the Year Bleached Coral offers an awareness-raising alternative to Pantone's annual "Color of the Year." The project was designed by Huei Yin Wong and Jack Railton-Woodcock, and is shortlisted in the Graphics category
Design Museum
Ok Glacier Memorial is shortlisted in the Graphics category. The project was designed by Cymene Howe, Dominic Boyer, Andri Snær Magnason, Oddur Sigurðsson, and Grétar Már Þorvaldsson. It's installed on top of Ok Mountain in Iceland, near the site of the first glacier in the world to have been declared deceased, and contains text meant to raise awareness on climate change
Design Museum
LEGO Braille Bricks is a collaboration between the Lego Foundation/Lego Group and official partners in the blind community. Each brick contains a printed letter and a Braille letter to promote interaction between sighted and blind people. The project is shortlisted in the Product category
Design Museum
LEGO Braille Bricks is a collaboration between the Lego Foundation/Lego Group and official partners in the blind community. Each brick contains a printed letter and a Braille letter to promote interaction between sighted and blind people. The project is shortlisted in the Product category
Design Museum
Förändring by Ikea was designed by Lolo Stigenius, Akanksha Deo, Iina Vuorivirta, and Helene Davidsson. The project is shortlisted in the Product category and is billed as pollution-reducing homeware. It's made from waste rice-straw, a rice-harvesting residue that's traditionally burned in India and contributes heavily to air pollution
Design Museum
Förändring by Ikea was designed by Lolo Stigenius, Akanksha Deo, Iina Vuorivirta, and Helene Davidsson. The project is shortlisted in the Product category and is billed as pollution-reducing homeware. It's made from waste rice-straw, a rice-harvesting residue that's traditionally burned in India and contributes heavily to air pollution
Design Museum
Impossible Burger 2.0 'A Better Meat for the Planet' is made from plant-based proteins and described by maker Impossible Foods as a vegan burger for meat lovers. It's shortlisted in the Product category
Design Museum
Impossible Burger 2.0 'A Better Meat for the Planet' is made from plant-based proteins and described by maker Impossible Foods as a vegan burger for meat lovers. It's shortlisted in the Product category
Design Museum
The Water Box Mobile Filtration System is shortlisted in the Product category. It was designed by Just Water and 501cTHREE, and is a mobile filtration system that can remove heavy metals and harmful pathogens from water in a minute. It's free for residents to use in Flint, Michigan
Felix Speller
K-Briq was designed by Gabriela Medero and Samuel Chapman. The project is shortlisted in the Product category and offers a sustainable building brick made from at least 90 per cent recycled construction and demolition waste
Felix Speller
Brick arches is credited to the Hong Kong Protestors and is shortlisted in the Transport category. Made from ordinary bricks, they were used by pro-democracy protestors as roadblocks to slow down police vehicles
Design Museum/Paul Wong Kwan
Brick arches is credited to the Hong Kong Protestors and is shortlisted in the Transport category. Made from ordinary bricks, they were used by pro-democracy protestors as roadblocks to slow down police vehicles
Design Museum/Paul Wong Kwan
The Station of Being was designed by Rombout Frieling Lab and Research Institutes of Sweden, Umeå and is shortlisted in the Transport category. It's envisioned as an immersive bus stop and uses light and sound to alert travelers that a bus is approaching
Design Museum
The Station of Being was designed by Rombout Frieling Lab and Research Institutes of Sweden, Umeå and is shortlisted in the Transport category. It's envisioned as an immersive bus stop and uses light and sound to alert travelers that a bus is approaching
Design Museum
Teeter-Totter Wall was designed by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, with Colectivo Chopeke, and is shortlisted in the Transport category. The project involved installing teeter-totters/see-saws into gaps in the steel border wall that separates areas of the USA and Mexico, allowing children from both sides of the border to play together
Design Museum
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A total of 74 projects have been selected for the 2020 Beazley Designs of the Year shortlist. The variety of designs is genuinely impressive, encompassing everything from Braille Lego, to an uncensored library hosted in a Minecraft server, and a sustainable social housing project.

The projects are split into six categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Graphics, Product, and Transport, and they will be on display at the London Design Museum until March 28.

From the initial shortlist of 74 entries – two less than last year – a winner from each category will be chosen in the coming weeks. The judges will then pick an overall winner, which will be announced on November 26. Previous recipients of the prize have included Sir David Adjaye's National Museum of African American History and Culture and Ikea's Better Shelter.

We've highlighted some standout projects below that caught our eye, but be sure to head to the gallery to see a larger selection of the projects shortlisted for the 2020 Beazley Designs of the Year.

Goldsmith Street, by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, is shortlisted in the Architecture category. The project is an excellent example of affordable social housing that's energy efficient and green
Design Museum/Tim Crocker

Goldsmith Street, by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, is a definite standout. Winning the UK's 2019 Stirling Prize (and making an appearance on our Best of 2019 list), the English social housing project provides low-income families with a safe and comfortable home that's built to the stringent Passivhaus green building standard. In addition to being good for the environment, this results in energy bills that are roughly 70 percent cheaper than the average British home.

Goldsmith Street is shortlisted in the Architecture category.

LEGO Braille Bricks is a collaboration between the Lego Foundation/Lego Group and official partners in the blind community. Each brick contains a printed letter and a Braille letter to promote interaction between sighted and blind people. The project is shortlisted in the Product category
Design Museum

Lego Braille Bricks is a collaboration between the Lego Foundation/Lego Group and people in the blind community. Compatible with standard Lego bricks, the studs are arranged to correspond to individual letters and numbers in the Braille alphabet. Each brick features a printed letter or character, with the idea being that it will make it easier for sighted teachers, students, and family members to interact with the blind or visually impaired.

Lego Braille Bricks is shortlisted in the Product category.

The Uncensored Library is shortlisted in the Digital category. It was designed by Reporters Without Borders, in collaboration with DDB Germany, blockworks, MediaMonks, and The Humblebrag, and creates an uncensored library within the video game Minecraft, allowing people to access censored documents and reports
Design Museum

The Uncensored Library was created by Reporters Without Borders, in collaboration with DDB Germany, blockworks, MediaMonks, and The Humblebrag. It's an uncensored library that can be accessed within the video game Minecraft and contains journals and articles that are banned in several countries where access to the media is tightly controlled.

The Uncensored Library is shortlisted in the Digital category.

Dakala Cloth - A New African Textile is shortlisted in the Fashion Category. It was developed by Nigeria's Nkwo Design Studio to reduce textile waste and preserve a traditional craft form and was made by sewing together waste items into new garments
Design Museum

Dakala Cloth - A New African Textile was developed by Nigeria's Nkwo Design Studio to reduce textile waste and preserve traditional African craft. The team developed the clothing by stripping and sewing together sections of waste fabric.

Dakala Cloth - A New African Textile is shortlisted in the Fashion category.

3D rendering of SARS-CoV-2 is shortlisted in the Graphics category. The project was created by Alissa Eckert (MSMI) and Dan Higgins (MAMS) and was commissioned to help raise public awareness about the dangers of COVID-19
Design Museum

3D rendering of SARS-CoV-2 was created by Alissa Eckert (MSMI) and Dan Higgins (MAMS). The project was commissioned by the US health organization Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help raise public awareness about the dangers of COVID-19. It depicts the virus when viewed through a microscope.

3D rendering of SARS-CoV-2 is shortlisted in the Graphics category.

Brick arches is credited to the Hong Kong Protestors and is shortlisted in the Transport category. Made from ordinary bricks, they were used by pro-democracy protestors as roadblocks to slow down police vehicles
Design Museum/Paul Wong Kwan

Brick arches is credited to the Hong Kong Protestors. Made from ordinary bricks, they are described as "ankle-high roadblocks," and were used by pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong to slow down police vehicles. According to the Design Museum, when struck by a car's wheel, the top block falls away leaving the two remaining bricks, which together form a buttress that prevents the wheel from moving forward.

Brick arches is credited to the Hong Kong Protestors and is shortlisted in the Transport category

Source: Design Museum London

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