"Bird's Nest" one of Brit Insurance Design Award's winners

Herzog & de Meuron’s Olympic Stadium in Beijing was declared one of last year’s most innovative international designs. It therefore received the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year Award 2008 in the category of architecture. The product One Laptop Per Child has recently been announced to be the overall winner.

The National Stadium in Beijing, China, which will be the main stadium for the Olympic Games in August 2008, not only signals China’s new role as a political and economic superpower, but is another emblem for world-renowned architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron from Switzerland. The stadium, that comprises the immense amount of 100,000 seats, represents the most striking and innovative stadium design of the last decades. Due to its apparently random steel structure, the stadium was already dubbed “Bird’s Nest”, increasing its feature to become a recognizable landmark for the city of Beijing.
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The jury commented: “The architecture of the Beijing National Stadium defines the contemporary stadium in a way that has not been seen since the 1972 Olympics in Munich. It embodies the emergence of China as a modern state and crowns the achievements of the remarkable careers of Herzog and de Meuron.” The Brit Insurance Designs of the Year is a design award accorded annually in several categories by the British Design Museum and the Brit Insurance. The winners in the other categories were:

Fashion: Airborne Autumn/ Winter 07, Design by Hussein Chalayan Furniture: 100 Chairs in 100 Days, Design and manufacture by Martino Gamper Graphics: Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition

Interactive: Burble London, Design by Haque Design with Seth Garlock and Rolf Pixley Overall Winner!
Product: One Laptop Per Child, Design by Yves Béhar of Fuseproject
Transport: Mex-x, Wheelchair for Children by Meyra Ortopedia

All designs were chosen from a 100-strong shortlist, which can be viewed at the first ever Brit Insurance Designs of the Year exhibition at the Design Museum until April 27, 2008. Design Museum, Shad Thames, London. The Design Museum is the world’s leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture to graphics, and architecture to industrial design. Brit Insurance is a leading UK-domiciled general insurance and reinsurance group.