Beazley Designs of the Year Award winners announced, Design Museum

Celebrating the best in architecture, fashion, digital, graphics, transport and product design, the Beazley Designs of the Year Award identifies the designs that have the ability to change the world. According to a panel of six judges made up of architects, designers and graphic designers, the designs lining the hallowed halls of the Design Museum London's current exhibition of nomineess (and now winners) are examples of the best influential leaps in design and technology of the year, and most likely to make history.

New, transformative, revolutionary; each of the 62 design at the Design Museum’s 10th edition of the award exhibition has the potential to change the world – or already has. From the hot pink Pussyhats of 2016’s Women’s March, to the virtual-reality recreation of a Syrian torture prison, the Beazley exhibition buzzes with a single question: what will be the next world-altering innovation?

And now we know! The new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has just been announced as the overall winner of the prestigious Beazley Designs of the Year Award.

Occupying one of the last undeveloped sites on Washington DC's National Mall, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in 2016 after lengthy but sustained efforts to commemorate African American history. Designed by architectural practices Adjaye Associates, The Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond and SmithGroupJJ, the museum's design is said to be inspired by both African and American histories of craftsmanship.

Inaugurated by former US president Barack Obama in September 2016, the new institution is widely considered to be a 'long-awaited symbol for the African American contribution to the nation’s history and identity', says the Design Museum.

In the words of Glenn Adamson, co-curator of 2017’s exhibition, Beazley 'package[s] up the future that's already here and puts it all in one gallery'. He’s not wrong. The Design Museum has managed to transform itself into the single most hopeful, adventurous place in London.

Why wait to see tomorrow when you can see it today? See all the winners of each category and all the nominees up close in the Design Museum's Beazley Awards exhibition before it closes.