Olympic Cauldron & The Shard Make Design Award Longlist

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 134 months ago
Olympic Cauldron & The Shard Make Design Award Longlist


The Design Museum has revealed the longlist for its Design of the Year 2013 award, with a number of prominent London projects making the grade.

The Olympic Cauldron, designed by (arguably) London's greatest modern designer Thomas Heatherwick, was a highlight of the 2012 opening ceremony; its ambitious construction, with each petal brought into the arena with the athletes and assembled piece by piece, and the fact that the design remained a close secret until the final unveiling, greatly adding to the impact.Working against Heatherwick is the fact that last year's award was also won by an Olympic project: the torch.

Though not quite so universally praised, the Shard has obviously had a major impact on the capital this year. Another controversial nominee is the Exhibition Road shared-space scheme, which has been criticised by some groups.

Other less heralded London-based projects on the longlist include:

The 90 designs on the longlist will be featured in an exhibition at the Design Museum, which will open on 20 March.

Photo of the Olympic Cauldron by Bambography

Last Updated 14 January 2013