Accurate world map scoops grand prize at Good Design Awards 2016
Dezeen promotion: an alternative world map thought to be the most accurate 2D projection ever made has taken the top prize at the Japan Institute of Design Promotion's Good Design Awards.
The AuthaGraph World Map Projection was designed by architect and artist Hajime Narukawa, who aimed to create a more accurate two-dimensional perspective of earth than ever before.
To create the map, Narukawa projected the world map on a flat surface, while maintaining the correct proportions of the earth.
He divided the world into 96 different sections and then printed them onto an inflated tetrahedron. This was then flattened and cut along the edges to produce a proportionally accurate world map.
"AuthaGraph provides an advanced precise perspective of our planet, by representing round surfaces and creating a multi-central aspect, known as G20," said the organisers. "This world map was designed to portray the globe more accurately to understand the complicated world of humans and represent it precisely."
The project was chosen out of the six finalists exhibited at the Good Design Grand Award Election which was held at Marunouchi, Tokyo from September 29 to October 23 2016.
Votes were cast by a jury, winners of the Good Design Award 2016, and visitors to the exhibition.
Now 60 years old, the Good Design Awards awards programme recognises projects that respond to community development, design for the future, disaster recovery design and production development.
From these four categories, prizes are awarded to 19 Good Design Gold Awards and 19 Good Design Special Awards, while a further 28 projects are awarded for Good Design Long Life Design Awards.
This year's other prize winners include Urban Architecture Planning Partnership, which has created a public housing scheme for group relocation as part of disaster response measures, a discharge support system for nurses and an LED light with natural objects, paintings and arts printed on its surface.
Prizes were also awarded to a bag that looks like a carved pumpkin, and a community commercial facility in a space under Chuo Line railway viaduct at the Higashikoganei station.
See the full list of category winners on the Good Design Award website.