29.10.2015
Kunstgewerbemuseum
The visitor wayfinding system of Berlin’s Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) has won the 2016 German Design Award. The design, by the agency Double Standards, won the award in the category of Excellent Communications Design – Signage and Wayfinding.
The museum’s building at the Kulturform was designed by Rolf Gutbrod in 1966 in the spirit of postwar modernism, and was reopened in November 2014. Double Standards’ wayfinding system dovetails with the minimalist approach taken by the Kuehn Malvezzi architectural practice, which modernised large parts of the building from 2012 to 2014.
Sabine Thümmler, director of the Kunstgewerbemuseum said: 'I am very pleased that the museum is receiving this honour! It is a wonderful complement to the outstanding and distinguished objects in product design on view in our museum.’
Jury members Mårten Claesson, Michael Peters, and Stefan von Terzifound were impressed with the Kunstgewerbemuseum’s easy orientation and the monumental size of labels for various areas of the museumon the walls and balustrades: 'A brief glance was enough to know where the treasures of the museum were located. The colour of the labels ranges from fire-engine red to black. Not only does the bold and simple system partition the museum while helping to orient visitors, it is also so omnipresent that it distinguishes the visual atmosphere of the space itself.’
Each year, the German Design Award recognises top-level, pioneering developments in international product and communication design. Initiated in 2012, the German Design Award is among the most esteemed design competitions in the world.