Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan, has been named Design of the Year by London's Design Museum.
The undulating arts complex beat off 70 other nominated designs to become the first architecture project to win the widely recognized award.
Hadid is also the first woman to receive the honor in the annual award’s seven-year history.
The Heydar Aliyev Centre was designed to host exhibitions, concerts and other cultural activities beneath the folds of glass-fibre-reinforced concrete panels.
Competition for the award came from other category winners including a keyboard with squishy keys, a family of chairs by Konstantin Grcic and Prada's Spring Summer 2014 fashion collection.
In another first, design lovers from around the world were given the opportunity this year to vote online for their favourite nominated design, with Dutch designer Dave Hakkens’ modular smartphone ‘Phonebloks’ concept taking out the people’s choice award.
Heydar Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher. Image: Designs of the Year 2014
Courtesy Bustler
