Cooper-Hewitt 2014 National Design Awards

Smithsonian Institution identity, 1999. Photo and copyright: Chermayoff & Geismar & Haviv.

The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum celebrates achievement in American design with its 15th annual National Design Awards program. The awards recognize excellence and innovation across a variety of disciplines. Among this year's recipients:

Lifetime Achievement

Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar are the founding partners of Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, a New York-based brand design firm behind many of the world's most iconic and recognizable trademarks. Since 1958, Chermayeff and Geismar have pioneered the modern movement of idea-driven graphic design across every discipline, specializing in brand identities, exhibitions, print and motion graphics, and art in architecture.

Makeshift Metropolis, 2010. Published and photo copyright Scribner.

Design Mind

Witold Rybczynski is a writer and emeritus professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Now living in Philadelphia, he has written books, essays and reviews on architecture, urbanism and design. 

Etsy product design, photo and copyright: Etsy.

Corporate & Institutional Achievement

Since the company's founding in New York in 2005, Etsy has empowered people to start and grow creative businesses with a mission to reimagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world. Creativity, the joy of making and inspired design are integral to Etsy and its 30 million member community.

Redelco Residence, Studio City, CA, 2005. Photo and copyright: Marvin Rand.

Architecture Design

Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa are partners in the Los Angeles-based architecture firm Brooks + Scarpa. The firm has garnered international acclaim for its success in blending an innovative aesthetic with leadership in sustainable and socially progressive design.

IBM Smarter Planet campaign visual system, global, 2009. Photo and copyright: Office.

Communication Design

Led by Jason Schulte and Jill Robertson, the San Francisco-based studio Office has developed differentiated solutions for some of the world's most iconic companies. Office is known for work that is grounded in smart strategy and executed in unexpected ways.

Flight patterns over North America centered on the United States created by data from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, 2005. Photo and copyright: Aaron Koblin.

Interaction Design

Aaron Koblin is an interaction designer known for pioneering new interfaces in crowdsourcing and data visualization. Based in San Francisco, his work explores the changing relationship between humans and the data they create. Koblin leads the Data Arts Team at Google and his work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Victoria and Albert Museum and Centre Pompidou.

Ace Hotel lobby and bar, NYC, 2009. Photo and copyright: Eric Laignel.

Interior Design

New York-based Roman and Williams was founded in 1998 by Hollywood set designers Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch. The pair began by designing celebrity residences. In 2009, the firm completed the award-winning Ace and Standard Hotels in New York. Each of their projects demonstrates a comprehensive design vision, marking their work as a unique user experience.

The central courtyard of Curran House, a subsidized housing project in San Francisco. Custom reclaimed wood benches. Photo and copyright: Marion Brenner. 

Landscape Architecture

San Francisco-based Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture is distinguished by its emphasis on the experiential and material quality of the built landscape. Founded in 1998 by Andrea Cochran, FASLA, the firm tackles a wide range of project types and scales, from single-family residences to hotels, wineries, affordable housing, schools, institutions, and public parks. Sustainability is central to the practice and each project is instilled with a sense of intimacy and strong attention to detail. 

Congratulations to all of the award winners!