The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum has announced the winners of its Sixth Annual National Design Awards. The program honors individual and companies for their contributions to the design world. This year, honorees include Hungarian-born ceramicist Eva Zeisel, who was given a Lifetime Achievment Award. A retrospective of her work is currently on display through December 4th at Hillwood Museum & Gardens in Washington DC. Zeisel, now 98 years old, still designs for, among others, The Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia; Royal Stafford for Crate & Barrel, Nambe, KleinReid; and Acme.
Ned Kahn, an environmental designer with a background in environmental science, received the award in Landscape Design. Kahn was cited for his works that "remind the viewer of nature's capacity to inspire apprehension, serenity, wonder and awe." His recent "Wind Portal," 2003, is an installation of 200,000 mirrored disks that move as air currents are generated by trains and wind in the BART station at the San Francisco International Airport.
Semi-finalists in the landscape design category were Kathryn Gustafson, of Gustafson-Porter in London and Peter Walker and Partners of Berkeley, California.
This year's Design Patron Award went to Mayor Richard M. Daley, of Chicago, for his efforts to tra
nsform the city into the greenest city in America. Since Daley was elected in 1989, the city has planted over 400,000 trees, promoted the landscaping industry and created multi-purpose public spaces like Millennium Park (left) ...... Daley built the first municipal rooftop garden on City Hall and it's one of five buildings in the United States to receive a top rating from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
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