Latest Inventions Nominated for Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2009

On February 12 the Design Museum in London will start its exhibition of the latest inventions and most innovative designs developed over the last 12 months. The designs will represent a wide range of categories from furniture to architecture and transport. The museum will also highlight the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2009 award ceremony, which will mark the most striking and ingenious ideas from the exhibition.

It is worth mentioning that you can visit the exhibition during the period between February 12 and June 14.

Below you will find some of the most interesting and eye-catching inventions that our team picked among the wide range of designer ideas that will be presented on the exhibition.

Castleford Bridge

The design of this bridge (in Yorkshire, UK) was nominated for the Brit Insurance Architecture Award 2009. McDowell+Benedetti is the company that worked on this incredible construction. Established by Jonathan McDowell and Renato Benedetti in 1996 the company managed to design an s-shaped construction over the Aire featuring stop-a-while benches and plush cruiseliner deck. The 131-meter bridge has three sets of steel legs that are piled 15 meters below the water level. The GBP4.8 million project managed to reopen access to the town's forgotten waterfront.

The Castleford Bridge is made from Cumaru, or Tonka wood and each of its beam is curved, being fixed in position by a clamp-like system developed by McDowell+Benedetti. Thus, there's no need of drilling. These pieces of wood are inset with non-slip carborundum. Instead of being installed across the width of the bridge, they run along its length, making it possible to continuously look to the water while walking along.

Education Centre

The design of this Bubbletecture H education center, built in a forest south of Osaka, was also nominated for the Brit Insurance Architecture Award 2009.

The designer of this unusual construction is Shuhei Endo, who looked forward to develop an education centre with an environmental touch. The building perfectly suits the natural surroundings of the forest.

The designer used such construction materials as steel cladding, which needs very little maintenance. The idea of the building is to reduce any damage to the surroundings.

The construction is covered with moss and turf, which over time cleverly transforms the building into a piece of art that is even closer to the environment. In addition, there will be no need for artificial cooling. The construction aims to increase attentiveness for problems linked with global environment.

Venus Chair

The designer of this incredible invention is Tokujin Yoshioka. The Venus Chair represents grow-it-yourself furniture and it was nominated for the Brit Insurance Furniture Award 2009.

This latest invention of the Japanese designer contains a fibrous skeleton made of polyester elastomer.

In a special tank there are crystals (though not mentioned which kind) that grow and cover the skeleton - thus the armchair is formed (maybe not really comfortable but still quite stylish).

Dinner Table

In the Interactive category the Dinner Table from Lucky Bite is probably one of the most interesting designs. The invention is about congregating the real and virtual. The device provides a top projection onto 3D surface in order to bring the illusion of a real animated dinner table. While users explore the game they automatically get involved in conversations and dialogues, which is one of the goals of the invention's developers.

Dinner Table explores the impact of global food supply and demand on the food we consume. In addition, the exhibit looks at the interconnectedness of our communities via the individual act of selecting a meal.

The invention engages users to experience competition, teamwork and sharing for themselves and sense the dilemma between them.

The main goal is to get a healthy meal for yourself, while realizing the fact that our choices are being influenced by global food supply and that these choices affect other people worldwide (in this case the visitors that interact at the table).

Pixel Clock

This invention was nominated for the Brit Insurance Product Award 2009. It represents a somewhat uncommon wall clock, being made of lacquered metal frame, a face made of two parts, a honeycomb structure within fibreglass and aluminum.

The clock is illuminated with 300 white LEDs.

Its heart is a Swiss clock mechanism and time is shown by the device's titanium hands. Francois Azambourg was the one to design the clock. Ligne Roset is the manufacturer.

LightWind - Outdoor Lamp

This impressive outdoor lamp was nominated for the Brit Insurance Product Award 2009 as well. It was designed by Demakersvan, a Dutch design house.

It can be characterized as the latest invention in the field of urban energy saving. The 2.5-meter high LightWind features a 2-meter wide propeller that converts wind power into electricity.

The device is made of quite simple components, including stainless steel, wood and sail fabric.

All design projects can be viewed here .