13 Projects That Represent the Future of Design

This is the second year of the Architizer A+ Awards, a competition that honors the best innovations in architecture and design. With over 60 categories and 200 judges, the Awards offer a comprehensive picture of all the incredible work happening in design right now. Many of the projects are immersive and interactive installations that respond to visitors through light, movement, and sound. Others show great strides in materials and form, including a glowing dome made from water bottles and an airport terminal shaped like a honeycomb. All of the designs harness the most advanced technologies to change our conception of what architecture can achieve. We compiled some of the best projects in the Architizer A+ Awards for our list of 13 Projects That Represent the Future of Design.

Vote for your favorite projects in the Architizer A+ Awards here.

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Architect: Höweler + Yoon Architecture LLP
Location: Dubai, UAE
Year: 2013

This interactive sculpture responds to touch. When tapped, stroked, or patted, the poles display different light patterns and sounds. Each pole plays a variety of sounds that mimic the songs of birds, a composition created by Erik Carlson. The poles are laid out in a spiral, which can either envelop the visitor, or, when viewed from a distance, act as a screen for multiple animations.

Architect: JNZNBRK
Location: Winnipeg, Canada
Year: 2013

Using reflective materials and digital projections, this installation sculpts light into abstract shapes, morphing its environment. The actual structure is made up of 39 suspended triangles, but the full impact of the piece is how the installation reflects light onto its surroundings.

Architect: BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group)
Location: Helsingør, Denmark
Year: 2013

BIG's Maritime Museum preserves the history of its site by leaving the dock walls untouched and building galleries below ground. This also respects the adjacent Kronborg Castle, a World Heritage Site. Three bridges span the dock and connect the gently sloping galleries, creating a dynamic space that gestures towards the feeling of being aboard a ship.

Architect: Future Cities Lab
Location: San Francisco
Year: 2012

Datagrove is like the physical manifestation of social media accounts. Aggregating Twitter feeds from San Jose, the dynamic structure whispers them to audiences through speakers. The glowing form also responds to visitors in close proximity, altering sound and light as people approach. In this way, it acts as both an art piece and a hub of data collection.

Architect: Philip Beesley Architect
Location: Toronto
Year: 2014

"Hylozoism," refers to the ancient belief that all matter has life, and every part of these series of installations responds to people who move about them. Using sensors and microprocessors, the kinetic mechanisms seem to be alive, mimicking human responses like breathing and swallowing.

Architect: Bernaskoni
Location: Moscow
Year: 2012

This office building is literally constructed to be a "transformer," able to shift its shape for different uses. Also, its colorful facade is meant to change overtime. The building, which serves as an office space for innovative startups, is energy efficient and environmentally friendly, using natural elements to heat and cool the space.

Architect: J. MAYER H.
Location: Java, Georgia
Year: 2012

The 100-meter long Lazika Pier stretches out to a monumental and futuristic sculpture that rises 31 feet in the air. This public space is a testament to the city's growing status as a cultural metropolis. The bare bones design of the sculpture is supposed to reference a skeleton or ruins, an unfinished aesthetic that signifies how the city needs to continue to grow.

Architect: Studio Roosegaarde
Location: Traveling exhibition
Year: 2010-Present

The Lotus Dome is a roaming sculpture that has appeared in museums across the world. Using a specially engineered technology, the flowers on this dome open when people come in contact with it, responding to light inside the dome. The structure was inspired by the architecture of 16th century churches.

Architect: People's Architecture Office
Location: Beijing
Year: 2013

Pop-up Habitat is true it its name—it can be assembled by almost anybody in a variety of spaces and formations. Made from reflective panels used in photography and Velcro, the Habitat can act as a temporary shelter, gallery, auditorium, canopy, or tent.

Architect: Daydreamers Design
Location: Hong Kong
Year: 2013

Rising Moon was a temporary installation in Hong Kong last year that reinterpreted paper lanterns with recycled plastic water bottles to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. The materials promoted a message of environmental awareness, and the water bottles were hooked up to LED lights that made the dome glow in different colors.

Architects: Studio Fuksas and Knippers Helbig
Location: Shenzhen, China
Year: 2013

This innovative airport terminal is the result of a competition that took place in 2008, where Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas and German engineers Knippers Helbig proposed the winning design. The terminal is covered in a double skin formed like a honeycomb that facilitates light's entering the space. The roof and facade are shaped like diamonds and made from steel while the panes of glass are positioned to maximize energy input.

Architect: Cooper Joseph Studio
Location: New York
Year: 2013

The Museum of the City of New York wanted something in their entry lobby to bring their space into the technology age, and Cooper Joseph Studio complied with a light installation that merges the old and the new. Using suspended white LED lights, the architect set them in a perfect circle that displays shifting patterns overtime.

Architects: Beam Camp, Supermass Studio, and Sage and Coombe Architects
Location: Strafford, N.H.
Year: 2013

Combining design, education, and play, this lighthearted installation was set up at 88 summer camps last year. The swings were connected to chimes that emit sounds when someone used the structures, making them visually, acoustically, and physically interactive.