2022 National Design Award Winners

The National Design Awards honor innovation and impact and recognize the power of design to change the world. Established in 2000 as a project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards bring national recognition to the ways in which design enriches everyday life.

Meet the 2022 Winners

Nader Tehrani

Design Visionary

A man with medium skin tone sits at a light wood colored table that holds an open notebook and a cellphone. His elbows are resting on the table and one hand holds a pen that points vertically to the notebook. He wears a black T-shirt and has black glasses.

Nader Tehrani is the founding principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry. Tehrani is also former dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union. Tehrani’s work lies in building bridges between education and practice, creating healthy institutions to ensure equity, democracy, and education for all. Major clients have included: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Historic New England, Harvard University, Northeastern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, and the University of Melbourne. For his contributions to architecture as an art, Tehrani was the recipient of the 2020 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been recognized with notable international awards in architecture including the Cooper Hewitt 2007 National Design Award in Architecture as part of Office dA and eighteen Progressive Architecture Awards, an unprecedented feat. He has also served as the William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.

The interior of a massive, well-lit atrium with sweeping, geometrically-patterned wood paneling across the ceiling and back wall. — Nader Tehrani, Melbourne School of Design, a new design school for the University of Melbourne (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2014). Collaborator: John Wardle Architects. Photo: Peter Bennetts

A clean, white atrium flooded with natural light. The ceiling is made of massive white panels that twist slightly as they rise upward, with space between them like the blades of a fan. — Nader Tehrani, Daniels Building at One Spadina Crescent, a new home for the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design for the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2019). Photo: Nic Lehoux

A sun-drenched library filled with low bookshelves and children playing. The ceiling is covered in very thin wooden beams that run parallel along the length of the room. — Nader Tehrani, Adams Street Branch Library, a new branch for the Boston Public Library (Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, 2021). Photo: John Horner

Crisscrossing concrete walkways encased in diamond-shaped metal cages tower on concrete pillars over the children running on the ground below. — Nader Tehrani, Tanderrum Pedestrian Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2016). Collaborator: John Wardle Architects. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen

Giant, thick ropes hang down in a crisscross pattern from the ceiling of a large warehouse, their ends curving along the concrete floor like snakes. — Nader Tehrani, Entrelac, an installation for Amman Design Week (Amman, Jordan, 2016). Collaborator: Raya Kassisieh. Photo: Roland Halbe

An aerial photograph of a narrow outdoor walkway shaded by a tall, sweeping concrete roof held up by a row of thin pillars. — Nader Tehrani, Zhulang Huagai, an installation for Shenzhen Biennale (Shenzhen, China, 2017). Photo: UABB

A tall building rises out of frame, its floor-to-ceiling windows interspersed with bronze panels in a checkerboard pattern. The building juts out over the smaller structure that raises it a couple of stories off the ground. — Nader Tehrani, MIT Site 4, a new tower and renovated base mixed-use building for MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2020). Photo: John Horner

A sleek square building covered in panels of alternating shades of gray stands in stark contrast to the more ordinary, light-colored buildings on either side. — Nader Tehrani, RISD North Hall, a new dormitory and studio for the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, Rhode Island, 2019). Photo: John Horner

The symmetrical interior of a wood-paneled chapel, with the ceiling above the altar made of a single massive, curved piece of wood. — Nader Tehrani, Interfaith Spiritual Center, a center for people of all faiths to gather at Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts, 1998). Photo: Dan Bibb

A strangely shaped building made of a textured gray material. The building's top half is a large cube that juts out from the side of the building towards the viewer, with a tall, narrow window in the bottom right corner. — Nader Tehrani, Tongxian Gatehouse, a new gatehouse for an artists’ center (Beijing, China, 2003). Photo: Dan Bibb

WEDEW by David Hertz

Climate Action

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Designed by architect David Hertz, WEDEW is a self-contained, transportable, and sustainable water and energy generator that converts biomass into essential human resources. WEDEW operates at the intersection of food, energy, and water and carbon transformation. The processes of biomass gasification and atmospheric water generation have been combined in a single system that creates valuable resources while closing waste streams. WEDEW expands systems thinking beyond the container to entire communities. It operates as a resilience hub allowing micro-grids and micro-economies to form. The biochar byproduct has long-term utility for regenerative agriculture while sequestering atmospheric carbon creating a nexus of goods, services, and resource distribution. WEDEW can successfully produce over 2,000 liters of water in 24 hours at the cost of half a cent per liter. WEDEW creates renewable energy and potable water, and the waste heat is recovered for non-refrigerant cooling while democratizing clean water in a small-scale distributed global solution. Through his work at his Studio of Environmental Architecture, Hertz strives to lessen the built environment’s impacts on the most vulnerable communities and the natural world.

A person stands with a watering can in front of a storage structure containing several pieces of machinery. A sign on the side is titled [Bringing Water to a Thirsty Planet]. — Under the California Energy Commission Grant, the WEDEW system presently operates in Malibu post-Woolsey Fire. It uses fire debris to make energy and water while sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide. The byproduct, biochar, is used for composting and rebuilding a solid regenerative system (Malibu, California, 2022). Photo: Laura Doss Photography

A person stands behind a small kiosk in a shipping container that has been converted to look like a storefront, with the two open doors of the truck covered in informational signs with headings like [An Elemental Solution], [New Water Sources], and [Abundance Goes Mobile]. — WEDEW water pod set up at the 2019 XPRIZE Visioneering Conference at Paramount Studios (Los Angeles, California, 2019). Photo: Laura Doss Photography

WEDEW was installed at the Oakland Convention Center, where it not only provided fresh water to The Verge Carbon Conference but also contributed its electricity to its microgrid (Oakland, California, 2019). Photo: Laura Doss Photography

Several pieces of metal machinery inside a portable rectangular structure affixed to the back of a house. — WEDEW generates renewable energy, heat, cooling, biochar, and water inside a 20-foot modified shipping container while sequestering atmospheric carbon into useful applications (Malibu, California, 2021). Photo: Laura Doss Photography

Emily Adams Bode

Emerging Designer

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Emily Adams Bode launched her eponymous luxury menswear brand Bode in 2016. Bode expresses a sentimentality for the past through the study of personal narratives and historical techniques. Modern workwear silhouettes united with female-centric traditions of quilting, mending, and appliqué shape the collections. Bode was the first female designer to show at New York Fashion Week: Men’s, with a collection of one-of-a-kind garments composed entirely of antique textiles. Today, with her unique pieces and larger collection of historical reproductions, Bode continues to reinvigorate American menswear through the art of storytelling and preservation. Bode has brought the conversation about sustainability to the forefront of the fashion industry. The brand’s commitment to the preservation of craft and materials and its commitment to making and repairing clothing for generational use, is Bode’s way of righting the industry’s imbalance and addressing overconsumption. Bode has been recognized with numerous awards, including 2021 CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year, 2020 Woolmark Prize: Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation, 2019 LVMH Prize Finalist, 2019 CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year, 2019 Business of Fashion 500, and Forbes 30 Under 30.

An open wardrobe made of dark wood with clothing in light, neutral tones hanging in the center and thick blankets and other rustic items on the shelves on either side. — Emily Adams Bode, One-of-a-kind garments that bring new life to legacy textiles hanging in Bode’s Los Angeles store (Los Angeles, California, 2022). Photo: Courtesy of Bode

Two barefoot models pose on a couch; one wears a black sweater that says [Good Luck] in white stitched script on the front along with pale yellow pants with red pinstripes. The other wears black pants and a sweater with horizontal stripes in the same shades of yellow and red. — Emily Adams Bode, Excerpt from Bode SS21 lookbook, titled A Year Off (New York, New York, 2021). Photo: Courtesy of Bode

The interior of a large, minimalist walk-in closet made of smooth, dark wood, with a large archway in the center under which are a few pieces of clothing neatly folded on shelves. — Emily Adams Bode, Interior of Bode’s Hester Street store (New York, New York, 2019). Photo: Courtesy of Bode

Two people, mostly out of frame, look at several textile patterns on Emily Adams Bode's website on a laptop. — Emily Adams Bode, Bode studio member using The Bode Vault, an AI-powered digital quilt identification tool (New York, New York, 2019). Project Partner: Microsoft. Photo: Courtesy of Microsoft

A pair of jeans sits on a table at a small workstation, with clothes hanging on the surrounding walls and a sewing machine behind the table. — Emily Adams Bode, Interior of Bode Tailor Shop at 56 Hester Street (New York, New York, 2021). Photo: Courtesy of Bode

An orange button-up jacket with a Western feel covered in loud, colorful designs, including a neon motel sign with a cactus decoration, a teapot with two mugs, two people playing soccer, and a stamp that says [Pure Fresh Milk]. — Emily Adams Bode, Bode one-of-a-kind Senior Cord Side Tab Jacket, hand drawn in New York (New York, New York, 2021). Photo: Courtesy of Bode

An open wardrobe made of dark brown wood neatly hung with clothes in warm red tones accented with white and yellow. — Emily Adams Bode, Interior of Bode’s Melrose Avenue store (Los Angeles, California, 2022). Photo: Courtesy of Bode

Rural Studio

Architecture / Interior Design

A portrait of a light skin tone man with short white hair and a short gray beard. He wears a light blue T-shirt under a beige jacket.

Through almost three decades of hands-on, place-based teaching and learning, Rural Studio is regarded as one of the oldest, most influential, and well-respected design-build programs in the world. The Studio is located in Hale County, Alabama and led by professor and director Andrew Freear. As part of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at Auburn University, the core mission of Rural Studio is the education of architecture students who live on site and design and build structures for residents and communities in the under-resourced, persistently impoverished rural region known as the Black Belt. Rural Studio has educated over 1,200 students who have designed and built more than 200 projects in the West Alabama Black Belt. The design-build projects are driven by research into efficient, healthful housing along with the vital community systems necessary to support sustainable rural living. Rural Studio continually questions what should be built, rather than simply what can be built.

In early evening, people mingle on the grass outside a modern, windowed building lit by a warm, golden glow. — Rural Studio, Newbern Firehouse, home to three fire trucks that also provides space for volunteer firefighter classes, fund-raising, and community gatherings. Not only was the project conceived and built in just two years, but also the student team helped the community raise $100,000 in material donations (Newbern, Alabama, 2005). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith. Students: Will Brothers, Elizabeth Ellington, Matthew Finley, Leia Price. Photo: Timothy Hursley

A low wooden building with a wide, thin roof that hangs far past the building walls. A sign outside the building reads [Newbern Town Hall. Volunteer Fire Department]. — Rural Studio, Newbern Town Hall, designed and built seven years after the Newbern Firehouse by 5th-year students. The Newbern Town Hall creates a civic square where the Firehouse and Town Hall form the north and south walls of a public courtyard space (Newbern, Alabama, 2011). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Steve Long. Students: Brett Bowers, David Frazier, Mallory Garrett, Zane Morgan. Photo: Timothy Hursley

A photograph looking directly into the windowed front entrance of a long, low, rectangular white building labeled [Newbern Library]. The warm yellow glow of the library's well-lit interior contrasts with the cool twilight outside. — Rural Studio, Newbern Library, renovated and expanded from the old Bank of Newbern building by a team of four 5th-year students to accommodate its new function as a library. Since its construction in 2013, the Newbern Library has become the social hub of Newbern. In a town of 186 residents in the city limits, the library supports 414 card-carrying members and houses 5,685 books (Newbern, Alabama, 2013). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Steve Long. Students: Morgan Acino, Ashley Clark, Stephen Durham, Will Gregory. Photo: Timothy Hursley

Children gather outside a long, bright blue barn-like building with large white text along the side that reads [Boys and Girls Club. West Alabama Greensboro]. — Rural Studio, Greensboro Boys & Girls Club, an extension to the existing armory compound designed and constructed by a team of four 5th-year architecture students. It provided a new, but separate, facility to accommodate the growth and development of the Greensboro Boys & Girls Club and the Greensboro Recreational Center (Greensboro, Alabama, 2012). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Steve Long. Students: Andrew Dolder, Stephen Kesel, Allyson Klinner, Yesufu Oladipo. Photo: Timothy Hursley

Young people gather at a skate park on a clear, sunny day, with some seated, some standing, and one skater in mid-flight with their arms in the air. — Rural Studio, Lions Park, a 40-acre park in Greensboro, Alabama, is jointly owned by Hale County, the City of Greensboro, and the Greensboro Lions Club. Rural Studio students designed and built ten projects over a decade providing a recreational space that combines sports activities and park amenities in a rural context (Greensboro, Alabama, 2015). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Xavier Vendrell, Steve Long, Cameron Acheson, Danny Wicke, Mackenzie Stagg, Daniel Splaingard, Mark Wise, Alex Henderson. Students: Callie Eitzen, Julia Long, Alex Therrien, Daniel Toner, Anna Powers, Christine Bagdigian, Kyle Johnson, John McDaniel, Jessica Cain, Alex Henderson, Benjamin Johnson, Mary Melissa Yohn, Tyler Allgood, Sarah Al-Rukhayyes, Benjamin Pendergraft, Elizabeth Whitlock, Edward May, Madelynne Miller, Gwyndolyn Mowbray, Charles Spires, Cameron Acheson, Bill Batey, Courtney Mathias, Jamie Sartory, John Plaster, Terran Wilson, Sandy Wolf, Evan Dick, Brett Jones, Carrie Laurendine, Adam Kent, Russ Gibbs, Mark Dempsey, Pamela Raetz, Adam Woodward, Joey Aplin, Lindsay Butler, Anthony Vu, Laura Filipek, Alicia Gjesvold, Jeremy Sargent, Daniel Splaingard, Mark Wise. Photo: Timothy Hursley

Two one-story, wood-paneled buildings, one short and one long, connected at one end by a glass hallway to form an L shape. The buildings are lit from inside with a warm yellow glow. — Rural Studio, Safe House Black History Museum, a museum that documents the struggle for equality at the local level along with other highlights of the Civil Rights Movement in Hale County. The original two shotgun-style houses were refurbished and restored, with additions added to each. The project centers on the connection of the two existing houses, one of which held the original museum (Greensboro, Alabama, 2010). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Steve Long. Students: Chris Currie, Cassandra Kellogg, Candace Rimes. Photo: Timothy Hursley

Standing alone in a wide open field is a small wooden house slightly raised on concrete blocks. — Rural Studio, 20K Dave’s Home, one of the first projects in Rural Studio’s housing affordability research that would later become the first model home in the Front Porch Initiative’s product line. The Front Porch Initiative is a collaboration between Rural Studio, community-based nonprofit rural housing organizations, and external government and industry groups (Newbern, Alabama, 2009). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Danny Wicke. Students: Charity Bulgrien, Ian Cook, Obi Elechi. Photo: Timothy Hursley

A striking outdoor structure made of corrugated metal, with a high, pointed roof supported by wooden beams covering an open concrete space on which sit two offset enclosed structures. — Rural Studio, Rev. Walker’s Home, building on Rural Studio’s ongoing post-frame construction research where project teams first build a roof on site and then construct the home underneath in a sheltered and controlled environment. Rural Studio provided Rev. Walker a large post-structured roof over a continuous sheltered slab foundation to protect and facilitate additions (Newbern, Alabama, 2021). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Steve Long. Students: Addie Harchelroad, Becca Wiggs, George Slaughter, Paul Fallin. Photo: Timothy Hursley

A uniquely shaped building made of light wood paneling and raised on thin concrete pillars; it looks almost like two adjacent Tetris pieces. — Rural Studio, Thermal Mass & Buoyancy Ventilation Research Project, part of a multi-institutional research project to investigate how to create a more responsible building system. The Research Project applies a holistic approach to thermal mass that could provide a powerful short-cut for designing climate-resilient buildings (Newbern, Alabama, 2021). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Steve Long. Students: Cory Subasic, Jeff Jeong, Livia Barrett, Rowe Price. Research Partners: Salmaan Craig, Kiel Moe, David Kennedy. Photo: Timothy Hursley

A greenhouse made entirely of windows and shaped almost like a right triangle, with a long slanting roof reaching almost to the ground before continuing down in a straight line. — Rural Studio, Rural Studio Farm, a year-round functioning produce farm, located on the Rural Studio campus in Newbern, Alabama. It produces over 6,000 pounds of food per year and feeds the Rural Studio community multiple nutritious meals each week. Thus far, 10 student design projects developed the Farm into a sustainable, small-scale farming model with a passive solar greenhouse, rows of garden beds, and irrigation and water reclamation systems (Newbern, Alabama, 2009-ongoing). Faculty: Andrew Freear, Rusty Smith, Elena Barthel, Xavier Vendrell, Steve Long, John Marusich, Alex Henderson, Margaret Sledge. Students: Hundreds of students for more than a decade have contributed to the Rural Studio Farm work. Farm Manager: Eric Ball. Cook: Catherine Tabb. Photo: Timothy Hursley

Giorgia Lupi

Communication Design

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Giorgia Lupi is an information designer and a partner at Pentagram, where she works to create a deeper understanding of the world around us through data, stories, and design. One the world’s leading data visualization experts, Lupi has pioneered and popularized a philosophy of information design called “data humanism.” She designs engaging data-driven narratives across print, digital, and environmental media that create new insight and appreciation of people, ideas, and organizations. Lupi has worked with major clients including IBM, Google, Gates Foundation, Starbucks, UN, and WHO. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Guardian, the Washington Post, NPR, BBC, Time magazine, Forbes, National Geographic, Scientific American, Popular Science, Wired, Vogue, and Vanity Fair, among others. Her work is part of the permanent collection of MoMA and has been exhibited around the world, including at the Design Museum London, Cooper Hewitt, Triennale Design Museum, Palais de Tokyo, and Centre Pompidou. She is the co-author of Dear Data and Observe, Collect, Draw: A Visual Journal. A frequent public speaker, her TED talk on her humanistic approach to data has over one million views.

A minimalist graphic featuring dark and light blue rectangles that form an equal sign and a plus sign above the words [Equal is greater]. — Giorgia Lupi, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “Equal is Greater” creative platform, a data visualization design system for the global foundation (2020). Photo: Courtesy of Giorgia Lupi

A corner of an exhibition space, with white walls covered in bold black text and colorful geometric shapes. The left wall has a large heading that says [What Shapes Your Choices?] and the right wall has an interactive element titled [Design Your Best Life]. — Giorgia Lupi, Mindworks: The Science of Thinking, data visualization and experience design for the world’s first working lab dedicated to behavioral science, hosted by the University of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois, 2020). Project Partners: Abbott Miller (Pentagram), Luke Hayman (Pentagram), K&S Partners. Photo: Tom Rossiter

Several colorful hand drawn diagrams titled [Visual Inspiration from IBM Design]. — Giorgia Lupi, IBM Data Visualization Guidelines, data visualization integration to IBM Design Language (2016). Project Partner: Accurat. Photo: Courtesy of Giorgia Lupi

Two photographs. On the left, a model with medium-brown skin and black hair pulled back in cornrows looks serenely at the camera. On the right, the same model is seated on top of a ladder while another person with their back to the camera writes on a large white wall behind them. — Giorgia Lupi, & Other Stories, design of a data-driven fashion collection (New York, New York, 2019). Photo credit: & Other Stories

A digital illustration of white flower petals, accented with pale pink, dark gray, and splashes of bright yellow, scattered across a gray background. Handwritten quotes fill the empty spaces between the petals. — Giorgia Lupi, Bruises, data collection, visualization, and musicalization of a patient’s medical journey (2018). Project Partner: Kaki King. Photo credit: Courtesy of Giorgia Lupi

An exhibition space featuring two massive screens showing aerial views of red mountain ranges shot through with the neon blue veins of rivers. — Giorgia Lupi, The Room of Change, data research and visualization for the XXII Milan Design Triennale (Milan, Italy, 2019). Project Partner: Accurat. Photo: Gianluca di Ioia

A photograph of the Manhattan skyline with handwritten digital text in the sky above the buildings that reads [76,000 healthcare workers volunteered to help New York]. Playful, colorful dotted line arrows in the water beneath the skyline are labeled with numbers of specific kinds of healthcare workers. — Giorgia Lupi, Happy Data, data visualization social media campaign (2020). Photo: Courtesy of Giorgia Lupi

A digital drawing titled [See the plastic in the air] with navy, red, and white shapes scattered in the center with a pale blue background. — Giorgia Lupi, Plastic Air, data visualization and digital design and development of a web-based experience about microplastic pollution. Created for Google Arts & Culture (2020). Photo: Courtesy of Giorgia Lupi

A close up of a book with a turning page; the book pages have several small diagrams. — Giorgia Lupi, The Digital in Architecture, data research, visualization, and editorial design for a report on the digital in architecture published by SPACE10 (2019). Photo: Courtesy of Giorgia Lupi

A sample diagram titled [Global Production] with gray circles, outlined circles, and a single green circle. — Giorgia Lupi, Deloitte Insights Data Visualization Design System, data visualization design system for Deloitte Insights (2022). Photo: Courtesy of Giorgia Lupi

Felecia Davis

Digital Design

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Felecia Davis is a designer and researcher working to re-imagine how we might use textiles in our daily lives and in architecture through computational textiles. Computational textiles respond to their environment via programming, embedded sensors, and electronics, or by designers using the changeable properties of the materials themselves to communicate information to people. Davis develops computational methods and design in relation to specific bodies in specific places engaging specific social, cultural, and political constructions. Davis is associate professor at the School of Architecture at Pennsylvania State University and director of SOFTLAB@PSU. Davis’s work, featured by PBS in the Women in Science Profiles series, connects architecture, art, science, engineering, and design. Her work was part of MoMA’s exhibition Reconstruction: Blackness and Architecture in America. She is a founder of the Black Reconstruction Collective, a not-for-profit that supports design work about the Black diaspora. Davis is principal in her own design firm, FELECIADAVISTUDIO. Davis was recently awarded a 2022 SOM Foundation Fellowship for a collaborative project ‘MycoKnit’ and a 2022 Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York.

An art installation with three tall cylindrical hanging structures of white mesh-like fabric. — Felecia Davis, Patterning by Heat, Responsive Tension Structures exhibition at Keller Gallery, MIT School of Architecture and Planning (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2012). Collaborator: Delia Dumitrescu. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A black silhouette of an individual in front of a back-lit translucent sculpture with geometric shapes — Felecia Davis, The Responsive Phototropic Fiber Composite Structure, a foldable, reconfigurable lightweight structure that senses and provides background light on view at the Textile Intersections exhibition at Loughborough University (London, England, 2019). Team: J.D. Ajayi, J. Huang, K. Kuo, I.Pun, Z. Hanzakian. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A textured textile hanging from a mechanical display. — Felecia Davis, The Textile Mirror, a responsive textile panel that makes viewers aware of emotion at Microsoft Research (Redmond, Washington, 2012). Collaborators: A.Roseway, M.Czerwinski. Photo: Microsoft Research/Kris Krew

A four-panel of textile samples displayed vertically. — Felecia Davis, FELT, Feeling Emotion Linked by Touch, a textile panel to study communication of emotion through vision and touch at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing and the Borland Project Space (State College, Pennsylvania, 2016). Team: N.Kioumarsi, N. Nikookar. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A photograph of the lower half of a mannequin wearing black pants with digital sensors and wires attached. — Felecia Davis, Positioning Materials, a wearable that maps the pattern of a walk (Stuckeman Center for Design Computing and the Borland Project Space, State College, Pennsylvania, 2018). Team: V. Noel, Y. Dong. Collaborator: Conrad Tucker. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A front and back photograph of a small textile swatch, one side has shiny copper-colored nodes. — Felecia Davis, Funky Switches Fabric, Felted Wool Knit, Stainless Steel, and Copper Coated Yarn (Borås, Sweden and State College, Pennsylvania, 2015). Collaborator: Delia Dumitrescu. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A close up photo of white fabric that is textured with a oval pattern. — Felecia Davis, Stretch Sensor Knit, Pemotex Shrinking Yarn and Stainless Steel Fiber Resistive Yarn (Borås, Sweden and State College, Pennsylvania, 2015). Collaborator: Delia Dumitrescu. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A close up photo of white knitted fabric. — Felecia Davis, Movement Detecting Digital and Analog Sensor Knit, Polyester Yarn with Stainless Steel Yarn (Borås, Sweden and State College, Pennsylvania, 2015). Collaborator: Delia Dumitrescu. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A large white fabric with nine black and white photos sewn onto its top half and accented with a coppery color. On the bottom half of the fabric, lines of copper travel from the photographs to a central node. — Felecia Davis, The Fabricating Networks Quilt, a quilt that transmits stories that was shown at the Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York, 2020). Team: M. Mirzaie, T. Hufnagle. Photo: Courtesy of Felecia Davis

A massive structure made of tubes of black mesh fanned out like a flower hangs from the ceiling in a gallery space. — Felecia Davis, Black Flower Antenna, a textile receiving antenna that was part of the Fabricating Networks installation on view at the Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York, 2021). Fabricating Team: Elliot Brau, Thomas Dimick, Berfin Evrim, Jamie Heilman, Ciera Jones, Niousha Keyvaninejad, Farzaneh Oghazian, Allan Sutley, Lee Washesky, Steve White, Sr., Erin Lewis antenna board, and Leah Resnick, knitting. Photo: Courtesy of Cathy Braasch

Willy Chavarria

Fashion Design

A portrait of a man with medium-light skin tone standing in front of a concrete wall. His hair goes to the top of his shoulders. He wears dark sunglasses, a black blazer that is buttoned up over a black shirt, and a gold necklace.

Willy Chavarria launched his eponymous label in 2015 with a sensitive and cinematic approach. Chavarria takes content from his own upbringing in both agricultural fields and housing projects of the San Joaquin Valley in California and combines it with a high fashion sensibility and love for luxury that he developed during his years designing for Ralph Lauren. He considers his clothing a way to connect personally with the feelings of today’s global citizens. The clothing is intended to be empowering and expressive in its approach to silhouette and fabrication. His concept blends the emotion of art and modern politics into a reactionary story of the human will. The collection has a hard edge with a strong message of anti-hate sentiment including bold statements about racial, economic, and sexual identity. In 2018, Chavarria was named as a finalist for the Woolmark Award. In 2021, Chavarria was a winner of the Vogue Fashion Fund, and in 2022, he was honored by El Museo del Barrio in excellence of fashion. Chavarria has worked for YEEZY as the executive lead of concept and design, and Calvin Klein, where he is now senior vice president of design.

A black and white photograph of a young Black adult with close-cropped hair and a tattooed neck looking to the side and standing in front of a collage of military photographs. — Willy Chavarria, Cruising SS18, a collection that juxtaposed California lowrider culture and gay culture to represent two parts of Willy’s identity in the iconic New York City gay leather bar The Eagle. Also featured was a collaboration with artist Brian Calvin, who hand painted on garments (New York, New York, 2018). Photo: Eric Lobb

A model with a shaved head wearing layers of gray, oversized clothes stands and stares sullenly at the camera, biting their necklace. — Willy Chavarria, Believers FW18, a collection that reinforced the strength of human dignity with phrases like “There’s No Such Thing as an Illegal Human Being” on graphic hits throughout the runway show. Also appearing on garments was “5683” which spells out LOVE on a touchtone keypad (New York, New York, 2018). Photo: Brent Chua

A model with medium brown skin, short, tight, black curls, and a thin mustache walks down a runway in an oversized bright yellow jacket, a white T-shirt printed with an upside down American flag, and baggy blue athletic shorts. — Willy Chavarria, Blood Brothers SS19, a collection that featured a collaboration with Hummel. The Navy version of this sweater is on display at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (New York, New York, 2019). Photo: Selwyn Tungol

A model with medium brown skin, close-cropped black hair, and a small tattoo beneath one eye stares directly into the camera wearing oversized black clothing. — Willy Chavarria, Furturismo FW19, a collection that speaks to human sustainability. The collection includes a second collaboration with Hummel as well as collaboration with workwear company KANSAS (New York, New York, 2019). Photo: Brent Chua

A model with medium brown skin and close-cropped black hair walks down a runway wearing a baggy light blue and salmon pink sweatshirt with matching shorts. They also wear white over-knee socks and spiky black leather fingerless gloves that match their spiky black choker. — Willy Chavarria, Love Garage SS20, a collection that featured a collaboration with K-Swiss, showing the strength and dignity of first and second generation Americans (New York, New York, 2020). Photo: Selwyn Tungol

Willy Chavarria, Brotherhood SS20, a collection that featured a collaboration with Hummel that highlighted Litefeet dancers whose strength, poise, and spirit inspire. Throughout the collection quotes from the charter of human rights appear (New York, New York, 2020). Photo: Kraige Tobiass

A model with tan skin and a buzz cut poses in a buttoned-up black denim jacket and extremely wide-leg black pants. — Willy Chavarria, Eulogy FW20, a collection that featured a fully recycled fabric collaboration with RECYTEX, who made exclusive fabric out of nylon fishing nets discarded at sea (New York, New York, 2020). Photo: Brent Chua

A model with tan skin and short black and blonde hair stands in front of a wall collaged with magazine clippings and other ephemera. They wear a large floor-length khaki skirt, belted at the waist, with no shirt. — Willy Chavarria, Cut Deep SS22, a collection that turned the iconic Astor Place Barbershop in Manhattan into a runway venue that showcased the importance of the barbershop to the BIPOC community (New York, New York, 2022). Photo: Carlos Jaramillo

A middle-aged model with tan skin, close-cropped black hair, and a mustache walks down a runway wearing an oversized T-shirt that says USA in upside letters along with baggy jeans. — Willy Chavarria, Uncut FW22, a collection that utilized popular American iconography showcasing how aspiring and recent immigrants use these symbols to feel more American (New York, New York, 2022). Photo: Selwyn Tungol

A model with medium-brown skin and short Afro hair wears a one-piece khaki outfit that features a jacket-like top attached to a flowing, floor-length skirt. — Willy Chavarria, Uncut FW22, a runway show held at the historic Prince George Ballroom—an iconic hotel that fell into ruin and was eventually restored by the organization Breaking Ground to become a homeless shelter. Connected to the ballroom are 416 units that house formerly homeless, low-income families, and persons living with HIV/AIDS. This thread of restoration and dignity ties into the collection: as it begins, the clothes are quite simple then build into opulence (New York, New York, 2022). Photo: Laura Fuchs

Kounkuey Design Initiative

Landscape Architecture

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Kounkuey Design Initiative is an interdisciplinary practice committed to building a more just public realm: one that is complete, inclusive, and resilient. Rooted in landscape architecture, KDI works across urban planning, policy, research, architecture, and civil engineering to expand equity and inclusivity in places that have long been overlooked or actively harmed by traditional design and planning approaches. Founded in 2006 by six then-students at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, KDI has grown into a sixty-person team led by Chelina Odbert, working from four offices: Los Angeles, Coachella Valley, Nairobi, and Stockholm. KDI works in places where socioeconomic inequity is extreme, environmental risks are high, and public investment is historically low. To address these challenges, the firm designs landscapes of inclusion, including parks, streetscapes, and climate-resilient infrastructure. They also advocate for more equitable public policies, undertake original research to account for injustices in the built environment, and create long-term plans, giving people more equitable access to a thriving public realm, regardless of race, income, gender, sexual orientation, or housing status. KDI has been commissioned by leading philanthropic organizations including The World Bank, UN Habitat, and Swedish International Development Agency; academic institutions such as Harvard University, UCLA, MIT, and University College London; and municipalities and public agencies like Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Government of Kenya, and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation.

A photograph of many children playing in a playground within a desert landscape. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Eastern Coachella Valley Initiative. The Eastern Coachella Valley is a landscape that faces environmental risk and extreme inequity, and this initiative uses landscape architecture to address immediate and long-term needs, including access to public space, mobility, housing, and environmental remediation (Coachella, California, 2011–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

A photograph of two boys playing with an orange ball with people and a city building behind them. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Los Angeles Public Space Initiative. This innovative set of programs reimagines under-utilized streets and vacant city-owned lots into public spaces in neighborhoods that lack adequate access to public space (Los Angeles, California, 2015–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

A copper-colored walking bridge covered in artwork leads to an orange and green building. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Kibera Public Space Project. This ongoing initiative introduces new public spaces in the informal settlement of Kibera, which are each linked with needed community programs, including schools, greenhouses, health services, communication infrastructure, and stormwater management (Nairobi, Kenya, 2006–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

A person with medium-brown skin and long, straight black hair holds up a handmade collage. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Kibera Handbook of Gender Inclusive Urban Planning and Design. Carried out in partnership with The World Bank, KDI researched and co-authored a publication that includes actionable strategies to make cities and communities more gender equitable (La Favorita, Mendoza, Argentina, 2020). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

A digital architectural drawing with a bird's eye viewpoint. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Hope Village. Commissioned by the California Endowment, KDI developed three site plans for “Hope Village,” a community center and resource hub for people who are formerly incarcerated (Los Angeles, California, 2021–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

A high-level river with greenery on one side and people standing against a stone wall on the other. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Community Responsive Adaptation. This ongoing initiative addresses stormwater management in the low-income flood-prone informal settlement of Kibera, resulting in a safer and more resilient landscape (Nairobi, Kenya, 2017–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

Four individuals sit on one side of a table that holds architectural drawings. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Changing Lanes. Commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), KDI led the planning and implementation of “Changing Lanes,” a framework to make LADOT more gender equitable, which included participation and input from local women’s groups (pictured) (Los Angeles, California, 2021–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

Kounkuey Design Initiative, Salton Sea. This research and policy initiative addresses the impact of environmental risks on the low-income communities that live near the Salton Sea, a major source of water- and air-borne toxicity (Coachella, California, 2015–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

A black-and-white floorplan with handwriting over some areas indicating their use. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Vare Recreation Center. A landscape-led retrofit reimagines a public recreation center as a more equitably inclusive environment (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2019–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

A digital architectural rendering of a storefront with trees and greenery in front. — Kounkuey Design Initiative, Low Rise. This project developed a sustainable new model of low-rise, multi-unit housing that accounts for the needs of low-income and unhoused neighbors (Los Angeles, California, 2021). Photo: Courtesy of Kounkuey Design Initiative

CW&T

Product Design

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CW&T started as and remains the two-person design practice of Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy. Over the last thirteen years, their work has spanned from interactive software to human-scaled tools that enhance our relationships to work, life, and time. The practice centers around an iterative process of sketching, prototyping, testing, writing code, machining parts, and building each edition themselves to assess their intuitions around improving everyday experiences. Projects range from devices that alter the perception of time, an electronics curriculum for artists, an astrological compass for space travelers, to objects engineered to last multiple generations. With backgrounds in architecture, film, and computer science, the duo met at NYU ITP where they began their scale and medium agnostic approach to design. Wang and Levy lecture extensively, and they teach courses on time, electronics, hardware, programming, inflatables, and morphology at Pratt Institute, New York University, and the School for Poetic Computation. Their pedagogy extends into their Brooklyn home/studio where they host office hours to lend a hand or offer insight to anyone interested in figuring out how to make something themselves.

A collection of eleven uniquely-shaped specialty pens in solid colors including gray, black, and gold. — CW&T, Pen Type-A, Pen Type-B, Pen Type-C, a series of precision machined pens designed and built to be passed down multiple generations (Brooklyn, New York, 2011). Photo: CW&T

A white sculptural object, similar to the shape of a flower, with a thin structure and texture that looks sponge-like. — CW&T, Rotojam, a fabrication process to create thin shell rotational casts using custom latex bladders and particle jamming with a variety of granular media (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2013). Photo: CW&T

A close up photo of a diagram with white outlines of hands in various gestures on a slate gray paper. — CW&T, Personal Body Unit Index, a cheat sheet to sharpen your internal sense of scale and use your body to measure things (Brooklyn, New York, 2014). Photo: CW&T

A cylindrical object with digital numbers inside stands vertically next to a rectangular black box. — CW&T, Time Since Launch, a single use long scale launch clock to mark the beginning of an epoch. Pull the launch pin to start counting seconds, minutes, hours, and days up to 1 million days (2,736+ years) (Brooklyn, New York, 2015). Photo: CW&T

An extra-long bicycle with an olive green cargo box in the center. — CW&T, Penny Pelican, a penny farthing style cargo bike for hauling around goods and small children (Brooklyn, New York, 2018). Photo: CW&T

A photograph of a box cutter-type knife below a tiny dead fish that is about one-third the size of the knife. — CW&T, Herring Blade, a super-low-profile utility knife with a simple magnetic mechanism with no moving parts (Brooklyn, New York, 2019). Photo: CW&T

Two identical watches with digital numbers, clear circle watch faces, and light gray bands. — CW&T, Solid State Watch, a Casio F-91W movement permanently cast into a transparent resin case with no buttons, no functions, no light, fully waterproof, and no changing the battery (Brooklyn, New York, 2019). Photo: CW&T

A photograph of a person wearing a black puffer jacket and a purple and white industrial face mask. — CW&T, OSR-Model 1, OSR-M1, a reusable face mask made of medical grade silicone and a large replaceable filter disc to ensure adequate air flow and filtering (Brooklyn, New York, 2020). Project Partner: Open Standard Industries. Photo: CW&T

A white circuit board with small holes throughout and brown writing and patterns. — CW&T, Power Ground Water, a series of printed circuit boards (PCBs) weave a narrative between a single transistor and a functional computer (Brooklyn, New York, 2020). Photo: CW&T

A small, sleek gray clock with tiny holes in place of numbers around the edge of the clock face. It is about a quarter of the size of the flowerpot that sits on the table next to it. — CW&T, Superlocal, a 24-hour clock with a customizable dial to set according to your daily rhythm (Brooklyn, New York, 2021). Photo: CW&T

Meet the Jury

Cheryl Barton

Cheryl Barton, PLA, FASLA, FAAR, LEED AP, is a landscape architect, design science educator, and founder of San Francisco based O|CB Studio. She has established a national reputation for the seamless integration of design excellence and environmental intelligence in her work. Cheryl received a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and holds a BA in Fine Arts and Geology. She is a fellow and past president of the American Society of Landscape Architecture and a recipient of the prestigious Rome Prize. Prior to founding O|CB, Cheryl was director of the Design Studio at EDAW, Inc. and began her career as a designer in the office of Dan Kiley. In 2022 O|CB joined forces with SCAPE Landscape Architecture where Cheryl will support the SCAPE team in design, leadership, and business development. Concurrently, Cheryl will be working on the archives of her forty-year practice.

Marlon Blackwell, Jury Chair

Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, is a practicing architect in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the E. Fay Jones Distinguished Professor at the University of Arkansas. Marlon is the recipient of the 2020 AIA Gold Medal, the Institute’s highest honor recognizing those whose work has had an enduring impact on the theory and practice of architecture. Marlon is a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and a National Academy of Design Academician, a 2019 Resident Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a 2014 United States Artists Ford Fellow. Work produced in his professional office, Marlon Blackwell Architects (MBA), has received recognition with significant publication and more than 160 design awards including the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture. A monograph of Marlon’s early work, “An Architecture of the Ozarks: The Works of Marlon Blackwell” was published in 2005 and a new monograph titled “Radical Practice,” is set for publication in 2022.

A portrait of a man with a light skin tone looking to camera. He has short brown hair and wears a blue sweater. He sits in front of industrial shelving holding products.

Travis Fitch

Travis Fitch is a multi-disciplinary designer working in architecture, fashion, and product design. Driven by an obsession with pattern, Travis combines geometric research with novel design and fabrication tools to create radical-yet-rational forms. An initial collaboration with fashion house threeASFOUR on their collections Biomimicry and Quantum Vibrations included a series of landmark 3D printed dresses. In 2017, Fitchwork launched Superpattern, a collection of intricately structured, made-to-order lighting and jewelry, with a two-week pop-up in Soho. Travis’s work has been featured in Vogue, the MFA Boston, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As a part time faculty member with the Parsons Textiles MFA, Travis is critically involved in the research, development, and applications of hybrid textiles. Ongoing projects look to expand on these possibilities, and include an investigation in environmentally responsive silk screening, a pair of retrofit historic buildings, and a series of multi-material 3D printed textiles.

A portrait of a medium skin tone individual looking straight to the camera; they have one eyebrow raised. They wear a black collared shirt and rectangular glasses.

Rick Griffith

Rick Griffith is a British-West-Indian collagist, writer, letterpress printer, designer, and optimist futurist based in Denver, Colorado. As a designer, he works at the intersection of programming, policy, and production. He is perpetually working toward new understandings of design’s power and authority over people and everyday things. He is a columnist for PRINTmagazine.com, the two-time programming chair for the AIGA National Conference, and the 2023 Acuff Chair at Austin Peay State University. Rick’s works are collected and exhibited worldwide and can be found in the permanent collections of The Denver Art Museum, The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and The Tweed Museum at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. He is a founder and partner with Debra Johnson of the graphic design consultancy MATTER, the designer behind the Black Astronaut Research Project, The Pledge for Spaces, and the Introductory Ethic for Designers and Other Thinking Persons. He co-owns a retail revolutionary bookstore and book club for designers, and DJs a live Internet radio show, Design To Kill.

A medium-light skinned woman sits on a stool with her hands placed around her knee. She has black hair pulled up and wears a muted blue jumpsuit and a statement necklace. Behind her are decorative wooden baskets.

Christina Kim

Christina Kim is the co-founder and designer of dosa, a Los Angeles–based clothing, accessories, and housewares company established in 1984 with a focus on rethinking conventional fashion industry production and sustaining artisan cultures. In-house production enables an evolving system for efficient use of natural resources, recycling, and creative reuse. Christina draws on traditional handwork techniques, particularly in India, Mexico, and Colombia, engaging local artisans and communities in long-term collaborations. Recognized globally for sustainable design practices, Christina was named by Time magazine as one of its Innovators of the Year in 2003, received the Innovation in Craft Award by Aid to Artisans in 2006, the Longhouse Reserve Design Award in 2006, and an honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2017. She received Cooper Hewitt’s 2018 National Design Award for Fashion Design.

A portrait of a medium-light skinned woman against a textured gray wall. She has medium-long brown hair and wears a muted green jacket with a gray collar.

Susana Rodríguez de Tembleque

Susana Rodríguez de Tembleque is an award-winning designer, innovator, and storyteller. She is the VP of design of IBM Research, the collective of laboratories in charge of inventing what’s next in computing. Susana’s mission is to create an excellent, differentiated, end-to-end experience for IBM Research. She collaborates with scientists, engineers, designers, and developers to bring to life the most cutting-edge technologies. Prior to this role, Susana was the VP of brand experience for IBM Watson, where she was responsible for advancing IBM’s positioning in AI. Before joining IBM, Susana was the creative director of retail at Apple, where she built a first-of-a-kind cross-functional discipline to design the future experience of Apple retail. She was also founder and executive creative director of Studio Partners, where she collaborated with clients to create bold brand experiences, and she was executive creative director at SYPartners, where she led award-winning design for clients including IBM, Apple, Under Armour, and Starbucks.

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Raja Schaar

Raja Schaar, IDSA, is program director and assistant professor of product design at Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. She also co-chairs IDSA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and formerly served as the education director. Raja is an industrial designer with an extensive background in museum exhibit design and healthcare design who is passionate about ways design can make positive impact on social inequities at the intersections of health equity, environmental justice, and STEAM education. Raja studies the ethical implications of design and technology through her research, and teaches through the lenses of science fiction, speculative design, and social entrepreneurship. Her current projects address biases in maternal health through wearable technology and participatory design; community-based co-design for engaging black girls and underrepresented minorities in STEM/STEAM through design, technology, and dance; and biologically-inspired design, sustainability, and climate justice. Raja holds degrees from Georgia Tech and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

2022 Special Thanks

The National Design Awards are made possible with major support from

Major support is also provided by Helen and Edward Hintz and Shelby and Frederick Gans. Generous support is provided by Alexandra and Paul Herzan, Crystal and Chris Sacca, and Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer.

Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund, Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee, Esme Usdan and James Snyder, Jon C. Iwata, Keith Yamashita, Kim and Mac Schuessler, Margery and Edgar Masinter, Richard M. Smith and Dr. Soon-Young Yoon, and Cooper Hewitt’s Board of Trustees.

National Design Award trophies are created by The Corning Museum of Glass.