Sustainability and social responsibility at heart of Brit Insurance Design Awards

Thirteen projects have been shortlisted in the Brit Insurance Design Award for 2010 under the architecture category. The projects which cover an international spectrum range from Tony Fretton's British Embassy in Warsaw to Zaha Hadid's MAXXI in Rome. Prolific modern artist Antony Gormley will now chair the high profile design jury which will deliberate across 7 design sectors to reach the eventual category winners.

From the selection of projects submitted across all sectors, curator of the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year exhibition, Alex Newson, noted a particular movement: “It’s interesting to see how themes of sustainability and social responsibility have emerged in this year nominations, revealing both the importance of economical and social change in design over the last twelve months. It’s a broad field and an exciting celebration of design.”

Brit Insurance Chief Executive, Dane Douetil, added, “We continue to marvel at the ways in which good design can improve people’s lives, from an elegant re-interpretation of the humble plug, to prototype houses for families who lost theirs in Hurricane Katrina. Alongside our two previous winners, One Laptop Per Child and the Obama campaign poster, we are sure the judges will select another future design classic as the winner of the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2010.”

The BIDA Architecture shortlist is as follows:

Brandhorst Museum, Munich, Germany
Matthias Sauerbruch, Louisa Hutton and Juan Lucas Young for Sauerbruch Hutton

British Embassy, Warsaw, Poland
Tony Fretton Architects

High Line Park, New York, USA
James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Hutong Bubble 32, Beijing, China
Ma Yansong and Dang Qun, MAD Architects

MAXXI, National Museum of the XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy
Zaha Hadid Architects

Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre Project, Melbourne, Australia
Ashton Raggatt McDougall

Monterrey Housing, Mexico
ELEMENTAL S.A., Chile

Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany
David Chipperfield Architects and Julian Harrap Architects

Ningbo Historic Museum, Ningbo, China
Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, Amateur Architecture Studio

Porchdog House Prototype, Biloxi, Mississippi, USA
Marlon Blackwell Architects

Raven Row, London, UK
6a Architects

TEA, Tenerife Espacio de Las Artes, Canary Islands, Spain
Herzog & de Meuron

Youl Hwa Dang Book Hall, Paju Book City, South Korea
Architecture Research Unit (ARU), London Metropolitan University with Network in Architecture (NIA), Seoul

The eventual winner will be announced at an awards dinner on 16 March.