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The Design Museum in London has announced the  winner of the 2013 Design of the Year Award, the Gov.uk website!

The website, which won by a unanimous vote, was chosen for its simplicity and ease of use, being built to allow visitors to quickly find the services they are looking for.

Chosen from a shortlist of seven category winners,  which were unveiled on Wednesday 10th April, the overall winner was announced on the evening of 16th April.

The category winners include a folding wheel for wheelchairs, the Medici chair and a medicine packaging designed to fit between bottles of coke.

The Category winners are as follows:
Architecture: TOUR BOIS-LE-PRÊTRE, PARIS
Designed by Frédéric Druot, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal

Digital: GOV.UK WEBSITE
Designed by Government DigitalService

Fashion: DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL
Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland

Furniture: MEDICI CHAIR
Designed by Konstantin Grcic for Mattiazzi

Graphics: VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE IDENTITY
Designed by John Morgan Studio

Products: KIT YAMOYO
Designed by ColaLife and PI Global

Transport: MORPH FOLDING WHEEL
Designed by Vitamins for Maddak Inc.

Previous winners of the award include the Olympic Torch by BarberOsgerby and the Plumen 001 light bulb by Hulger and Samuel Wilkinson.

The exihibition will remain open until the 7th July 2013, further information can be found on a previous blog post here.

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Foster + Partners has designed their first flagship hotel, where everything from the shell to the interiors has been designed by the practice. 

The ME Hotel, which opened earlier this year, is a brand new luxury hotel built occupying a triangular site in the Aldwych Crescent area of London.  The 157-bed hotel seamlessly integrates with the restoration of the adjacent 1904 Marconi House, whose interior has been completely restructured to provide 87 apartments.  

Clad in Portland stone, the hotel was built to the same height and scale as its neighbour, and despite having a modern feel, is still in keeping with the surrounding area. An elliptical tower on the corner of the building, which defines the end point for the Aldwych Crescent, is topped by a glass cupola – a contemporary reinterpretation of the Edwardian-style domed roof across the street. The glass cupola houses the penthouse suite for the hotel, with an impressive 360-degree panorama of the city, including views of the river.  

Guests arriving at the hotel pass through a ground floor lounge with accompanying public restaurants and bar before ascending to a dedicated hotel lobby with a champagne bar on the first floor, all housed within a nine-storey high pyramidal space, encased entirely in white marble.  

On the tenth floor is the hotel’s rooftop terraces, which are an urban oasis, with the Radio Rooftop Bar offering views of the river and Westminster skyline. The 5-star hotel also boasts versatile conference suites, a gym and a luxury 25-seat screening room.

Find out more on the project page.

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In the latest move forward for a new London airport Boris Johnson has appointed Zaha Hadid Architects, along with aviation experts, to develop designs for a multi runway hub, to be built in the southeast.

Zaha Hadid will submit plans that will also help make recommendations on the location of the airport, which the Mayor of London sees as vital to rejuvenate the British economy and to solve the current aviation crisis.

Other organisations asked to prepare plans, as part of an airport design and infrastructure panel, were Atkins, a British design and engineering company, and Pascall & Watson architects who worked on St. Pancras international and Heathrow Terminal 5.

Find out more via the full press release here.

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A new exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein's work has opened at the Tate Modern in London. The exhibition displays 125 pieces of work from the artist, including sculptures and, of course, his famous 'comic book' style paintings.

This is the first full-scale retrospective of this important and well known artist in 20 years and is the most definitive collection.

The exhibition, which opened on the 21st February, is co-organised by the Tate Modern and The Art Institute of Chicago and will run until 27th May 2013. 

Read more and book tickets here.

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The Design Museum  has opened a new exhibition containing some of its permanent collection.

Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary Things will be on display on the top floor of the current home of the Design Museum, broken up into six themes or "stories". 

The 'Identity & Design' story features items that contribute to national identity such as the K2 Phone Box by Giles Gilbert Scott, UK road signage by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert, and the London 2012 logo by Wolff Olins.

The 'Taste' story charts the influence of modernism on British design and includes pieces by Marcel Breuer and Erno Goldfinger.

'Why We Collect' features recycled designs from Jasper Morrison's table made of bicycle handlebars to the Campana Brothers' Cartoon Chair made of soft toys.

'Materials & Process' charts the development of plastic technology.

Whilst 'Icons' follows iterations of the Anglepoise Lamp.

'Finally Fashion' focuses trends from the 1960's to the 1990's.

The exhibition was designed by Gitta Gschwendter and consists of the objects being displayed on rough, chunky shelving alongside contextual images and documents. It will run until the museum moves to its new home next year in the former Commonwealth Institute building in South West London, which is currently being redeveloped by John Pawson.

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If you need help with or have concerns about 'Social Media in the Workplace' then this forthcoming seminar is for you.

The Think Tank's Director of PR, Samantha Dawe, will be joining the Employment Department at Bracher Rawlins LLP to present a seminar on this topic on 28th November in London.  

The venue is 77 Kingsway, London, WC2B 6SR and it starts at 5.30pm. The seminar will also be followed by a drinks reception.

There are a limited number of spaces so if it is of interest, email Carol Watson at carol.watson@bracherrawlins.co.uk to secure your place.

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The Think Tank will be speaking at the RIBA Insight Consultancy Days again this year, covering the topic of web site design best practice.

We have been approached to help support the event by providing our expertise in the design and build of web sites, examining best practice and providing hints and tips to marketing professionals from across the construction industry on how to achieve optimum results from their online presence.

The RIBA Insight Consultancy Days are held in Manchester on 23rd October and in London on 30th October. Liam Bateman, Director at The Think Tank, will be talking at the Manchester event and Dragana Knezevic, Account Director at The Think Tank, at the London event.

To find out more about the whole programme click here.

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At this year's 100% Design, (19 - 22 September 2012, stand E360, Earls Court) Formica Group has partnered with design resource studio Material Lab to create a unique pop-up gallery showcasing its latest innovative surfaces and materials.  

"Both Material Lab and Formica Group believe that being able to see, touch and feel materials is key to the design process as architects, designers and specifiers need to understand how their vision can come to life through the selection of materials," says Simon Wild, European Marketing Director at Formica Group.  

The Material Lab pop-up gallery features Korten from the DecoMetal® range, AR Plus® High Gloss Laminate and also the latest addition to Formica Group's product portfolio, Formica® Magnetic Laminate.  

The rich tones and intriguing surface relief of Korten evoke the look and feel of one of the favourite materials of modern architecture, corten steel. The handmade design incorporates iron particles, which make each individual sheet unique, creating a strong visual statement for any project.     

To find out and see more get along to 100% Design this week.

Click here for more info.

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With the London Design Festival fast approaching we thought that it would be useful to highlight some of the key destinations for interior, furniture and product design.  

The Festival runs from 14th until 23rd September and encompasses all forms of design from Graphic Design to Fashion.

The key destinations below mostly cover interiors and furniture, for details of other design events you can view a calendar on the London Design Festival website.  

100% Design – 19th-22nd September, Earls Court  

Decorex – 23-16th September, The Royal Hospital, Chelsea  

Tent London – 20th-23rd September, Old Truman Brewery  

Design Junction – 19th-23rd September, The Sorting Office, W1  

Clerkenwell Design Week – 21st-23rd September, Various Venues, Clerkenwell  

ICON Design Trail, September, Various Venues  

Super Brands, 20th-23rd September, Old Truman Brewery  

Before 1980, 22nd September, Central Islington Library  

For full details of all these events please click on the event title to go to their websites.

Here’s to a great festival of design!

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This film clip has had us in hysterics in the office.

How to play football whilst wearing binoculars.

Hilarious. Definitely a sport to liven up the Olympics.

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If when someone mentions Formica you think about the kitchen then think again. Formica® laminate is an amazingly versatile material and the Formica Bespoke service allows you to capture any image in laminate.

In a celebration of the city of London and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Formica Group has partnered with photographer Henry Reichhold in a T5 Expo exhibition at the check-in area of Heathrow Airport, London. The original creator of High Pressure Laminate (HPL), Formica Group is delighted to be part of this exciting event supporting artists of today and tomorrow.

The exhibition opened on 30th July 2012 and will be running for three months until October 2012. The exhibition features two large images (3 x 12.5 meters) scaled to match the extraordinary Royal events of the Jubilee weekend 2012: the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Carriage Procession. The images are captured in Formica® laminate using the Formica® Bespoke artwork service structured to facilitate virtually limitless, unique design.

Taken from the 54th floor of Europe’s tallest building, the newly built Shard that towers over London Bridge, the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant panorama was shot through glass on a rainy day. The skyscraper was shrouded in mist and clouds, resulting in a unique and dramatic backdrop of this historic event. The final image was created by combining over 200 pictures together in a giant jigsaw puzzle and then subjecting them to intense image manipulation to cut through the veil of weather.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Carriage Procession photo captures the incredible excitement and vibrant energy on the day. As the Royal coaches drive past the cheering crowd, the image of thousands of waving arms and flags creates a spectacular visual display.

Henry Reichhold specializes in digital imaging and works with a large variety of technology, ranging from mobile phones to high resolution cameras.

The results are stunning images capturing the spirit and atmosphere of each subject, be it cityscapes or enormous panoramic images such as the ones being exhibited at the T5 Expo. Continuously exploring new ways of showing his work, Reichhold chose Formica laminate to create this unique display.

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