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Pro Chair by Konstantin Grcic

Designs of the Year 2014 category winners announced

News: a keyboard with squishy keys (pictured), a cultural centre by Zaha Hadid and furniture by Konstantin Grcic are among the category winners for the Designs of the Year 2014 awards, organised by London's Design Museum.

This year's winners include British firm Zaha Hadid Architects' Heydar Aliyev Center that rises from the ground in Baku, Azerbaijan, which topped the architecture category, and a soft piano keyboard by ROLI, played using three-dimensional hand gestures, that was named best product (main image).

Pro Chair by Konstantin Grcic
Pro Chair by Konstantin Grcic

The Pro Chair Family originally created for schools by Konstantin Grcic for German brand Flötotto beat off other furniture designs and Miuccia Prada's Pop Art-influenced Spring Summer 2014 collection won the fashion category.

The Design Museum's annual celebration of exemplary architecture and design awards projects in seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphic, Product and Transport. Scroll on for the full list of category winners.

Prada Spring Summer 2014 collection
Prada Spring Summer 2014 collection

Winners were selected by a panel of judges that included Gov.uk designer and last year's laureate Ben Terrett, writer and journalist Ekow Eshun, and Industrial Facility cofounder Kim Colin.

All of this year's shortlisted projects are on show at London's Design Museum until 25 August. The overall winner will be announced during a ceremony at the St Martins Lane Hotel in London on 30 June.

Dezeen is media partner for Designs of the Year 2014.

Here's the list of winners from the Design Museum:


Designs of the Year 2014 category winners announced

The Design Museum announces the seven category winners for the annual Designs of the Year Awards. Designs of the Year celebrates a year's worth of cutting-edge innovation and original talent; showcasing the very best in global Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphic, Product and Transport design. The seven category winners are:

Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan. Designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher

Architecture: Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan
Designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher

Elaborate undulations, folds and inflections modify this plaza surface into an architectural landscape that performs a multitude of functions.

PEEK (Portable Eye Examination Kit) Designed by Dr Andrew Bastawrous, Stewart Jordan, Dr Mario Giardini, Dr Iain Livingstone

Digital: PEEK (Portable Eye Examination Kit)
Designed by Dr Andrew Bastawrous, Stewart Jordan, Dr Mario Giardini, Dr Iain Livingstone

A smartphone-based system for comprehensive eye examinations, PEEK is easy to use, affordable and portable, meaning that it can bring eye care to even the remotest of settings.

Prada Spring Summer 2014 collection

Fashion: Prada Spring Summer 2014
Designed by Miuccia Prada

Pop-art prints meet sporty details and structured shapes in this boldly coloured, powerful collection. Vogue said of the show "By next summer we'll wonder what we ever wore before."

Pro Chair Family by Konstantin Grcic

Furniture: Pro Chair Family
Designed by Konstantin Grcic

Featuring state-of-the-art ergonomics and pioneering design, the construction of the chair not only allows movement in all directions, but actively stimulates it thereby promoting healthier sitting.

Drone Shadow by James Bridle

Graphics: Drone Shadows
Designed by James Bridle / booktwo.org

A series of installations consisting of a 1:1 outline of a military unmanned aerial vehicle, or Drone. They have appeared in the UK, Turkey, the USA, Brazil and elsewhere.

The Seaboard Grand. Designed by Roland Lamb and Hong-Yeul Eom

Product: The Seaboard Grand
Designed by Roland Lamb and Hong-Yeul Eom

The Seaboard is a reinvention of the piano keyboard, reimagining the keys as soft waves that enable continuous and discrete real-time, tactile control of sound through three-dimensional hand gestures. The design combines contemporary minimalism and traditional handcrafted quality.

XL1 CAR. Designed by Volkswagen

Transport: XL1 CAR
Designed by Volkswagen

The world's the most efficient liquid-fuelled production car; it requires only 8.4 PS to sustain a constant 100 kilometres per hour on a level surface in still air, a speed the car can reach from rest in 12.7 seconds.