Graphic design and architecture combine to take top honour at Scottish Design Awards 2019
Scotland’s best new design work has been celebrated at an annual gathering of the great and the good of the country’s creatives, the Scottish Design Awards, which recognise the full spectrum of design.
Scotland’s creative’s unite in praise of Clydebank Community Sports Hub
For the first time in the awards' history, this saw the same project handed the top accolade in both design and architecture categories, an achievement which highlights the degree of commonality and strengthened ties between the professions while thrusting the town of Clydebank to the forefront of design.
It was a case of déjà vu as Freytag Anderson landed the best in show award for Clydebank Community Sports Hub for crafting an elaborate concrete frieze decorating its façade – just minutes after Marc Kilkenny Architects walked away with the architecture Grand Prix.
In reaching their parallel decision the design judges, who made their decision entirely independently of the architecture panel, heaped praise on its ‘completeness’ and ‘evolved design sensibility’. The judges said: “It works in terms of access, gravitas and resonance. There’s no commercial value, it is just a passionate public realm.”
Elsewhere jury chair Philip Long, director of V&A Dundee, selected The Great War: An Orkney Memorial Experience in Kirkwall by Playdead for the chairman’s award, praised for being a ‘stand-out work in the context of who it’s for and where it’s presented. The agency of the year accolade went to Cause + Effect who consistently impressed having racked up a succession of big wins. The judges said: “Cause + Effect were way out in front. There’s a broadness of application from identity to posters and publications.”
John Glenday of The Drum said: “The Scottish Design Awards were created to unite creatives of all stripes under a common banner and what better vindication of that approach could there be than by celebrating a unique project which marries the very best of architecture and design.
The full set of results can be viewed at The Scottish Design Awards website.