A Kenyan design studio has emerged this year’s Grand Prix winner of the Lexus Design Award. BellTowers’ design of a structure that addresses a common problem in developing countries (collection and storage of clean drinking water) beat nearly 2000 other competing designs from 79 countries.
It is the first time an African team has won the award since it was launched eight years ago by automaker Lexus. The award was established to nurture the next generation of designers. Lexus funds and showcases their work while at the same time equipping them with the skills needed to tackle future challenges.
This year’s virtual jury included architect Jeanne Gang, Publicis Sapient chief experience officer John Maeda, MoMA design curator Paola Antonelli and Toyota chief designer Simon Humphries. Their decision was based on the finalists’ ability to “anticipate, innovate, and captivate in the quest for a better tomorrow,” Lexus says.
Gang said the judges were impressed with how BellTower looked beyond design to the materials and economics of their proposal. “By addressing how their project will be manufactured and sustained economically, she added, BellTower broadens ideas about what design could be. While the project is an apparatus to collect and store rainwater for safe drinking, it is also a financial game plan for empowering a community,” she explained.
The BellTower team comprised John Brian Kamau, Joyce Wairimu Gachiri, Ian Githegi Kamau, Esther Wanjiku Kamau and Arvin Booker Kamau.
Accepting the award, John said, “It was a great honour for us as BellTower, to be one of the six finalists and then win the Grand Prix of Lexus Design Award 2020.”
