Published on : Monday, January 30, 2017
The Beazley Design of the Year was awarded to the Better Shelter project by Johan Karlsson and IKEA Foundation. Presented by the Design Museum in London, the Beazley Design awards sees nominees battle it out in six categories – Architecture, Graphics, Fashion, Transport, Product and Digital – with the shortlisted designs on display at the museum since last November.
Developed in partnership with the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Better Shelter project is a flat-pack refugee shelter made from recyclable plastic, comprising only 68 components, and can be assembled in as few as four hours. Each structure is large enough to house a family of five, and includes a solar panel to power lights and charge devices.
Dr Jana Scholze, a professor at Kingston University who was also one of the judges, said, “Better Shelter tackles one of the defining issues of the moment: providing shelter in an exceptional situation whether caused by violence or disaster. Providing not only a design, but secure manufacture as well as distribution makes this project relevant and even optimistic. It shows the power of design to respond to the conditions we are in and transform them.” Better Shelter won in the hotly contested Architecture category.
Since production started in 2015, 16,000 Better Shelter units have been delivered to countries around the world including Iraq, Djibouti, Greece and Niger, to be used as homes, temporary clinics and offices.
Tags: architecture, Beazley Design of the Year, design, Design Museum, Design of the Year, ikea, Johan Karlsson, lights, plastic, power, recyclable, refugee shelter, solar panel, structure, unit
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