Celebrating 13 years of Innovation by Design, the 2024 honorees include nearly 500 projects, products, and services from Pentagram, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Canva, and others.
Los Angeles, CA July 23, 2024 — Lynn Wyatt Square for the Performing Arts was honored in Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards for 2024 in the Urban Design category.
The Innovation by Design Awards, which can be found in the Summer 2024 issue of Fast Company, honor the designers and businesses solving the most crucial problems of today and anticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow. The competition, now in its 13th year, features a range of blue-chip companies, emerging startups, and promising young talent. It is one of the most sought-after design awards in the industry.
Lynn Wyatt Square for the Performing Arts Designed by RIOS
Lynn Wyatt Square for the Performing Arts is an outdoor cultural venue in Downtown Houston’s Theater District. The transformed public plaza serves as a hub for a more interconnected, accessible, and inclusive green space, providing a vibrant heart for both Houstonians and visitors. Inspired by Urban Choreography, Lynn Wyatt Square offers year-round engagement with the arts through music, theater, dance, film, opera, and art installations. Formerly a concrete heat island, the plaza has been reimagined into a sustainable green oasis. The landscape design reflects exceptional efforts toward creating a better future, focusing on climate mitigation, resiliency, biodiversity, and ecological advocacy.
“This beautiful transformation goes beyond enhancing aesthetics and functionality,” said Peter Emerson, Studio Director, RIOS. “It’s about making a significant impact by exposing new audiences to the performing arts–for free–within a public space that is surrounded by the many institutions of the Houston Theater District.”
“This year’s honorees show how essential creativity is to the process of innovation,” said Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “It’s inspiring to see how some of the best minds across industries are using design to shape our world for the better.”
The judges include renowned designers from a variety of disciplines, business leaders from some of the most innovative companies in the world, and Fast Company’s own writers and editors. Entries are judged on the key ingredients of innovation: functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact.
Winners, finalists, and honorable mentions are featured online, and winners and finalists are featured in the Summer issue of Fast Company magazine, on newsstands July 30, 2024.
To see the complete list, go to https://www.fastcompany.com/innovation-by-design/list.
About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
