On Friday, November 21st, 2025, Basel became the centre of the international design community as the BLT Built Design Awards and the SIT Furniture Design Award came together for their largest celebration to date. Two hundred guests from more than thirty countries, from China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam to the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand, gathered inside the spectacular Elisabethenkirche, the 19th-century neo-Gothic landmark now transformed into one of Switzerland’s most striking contemporary cultural venues.
The decision to host the ceremony in the Elisabethenkirche underscored the awards’ shared values, honouring innovation, craftsmanship and adaptive reuse design at a moment when architecture and furniture design continue to respond creatively to the challenges of the built environment.
The evening brought together the winners of the 2024 and 2025 BLT Built Design Awards and the SIT Furniture Design Award, presenting both trophies and certificates on stage, accompanied by a seated gala dinner. Designers, architects, product innovators, academics, students, media partners and jury members connected throughout the evening, turning the neo-Gothic space into a lively international meeting point.
The ceremony was led by the 3C Group co-founders, Astrid Hébert and Hossein Farmani, who guided an extensive programme featuring some of the world’s most notable firms and emerging talents. Jury members joined them on stage to present the top-level trophies, including Pal Pang, London-based interior architect and artist and Chief Creative Officer of Another Design International; Dr. Anna Grichting Solder, Swiss architect, urbanist and musician with a Doctor of Design in Urbanism from Harvard; Andreas Rupf, Head of ETH RAUM at ETH Zürich and founder of SPEKTRUM GmbH, specialising in strategic spatial planning; Samantha Lassoudry, Founder & Chief Designer of Lassoudry Architects in Basel with a “custom-made couture” approach; Amir Idiatulin, Founder & CEO of IND (Russia/Global) and leader in architecture and urban strategy; Christian Brendelberger, Partner at Dietziker Partner Baumanagement AG and Head of Cost Planning on large-scale Swiss projects; and Alain Gilles, Brussels-based furniture and product designer, founder of The Studio and acclaimed internationally for his award-winning design work.
This year’s BLT Built Design Awards program featured major winners such as Kebony, The Volks Design & Research Consulting Ltd., Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect, The Backcountry Hut Company, Sanjay Puri Architects, Landprocess, Studio Kwan at the University of Ulsan, ETH Zürich’s Block Research Group and the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL, with an extensive list of international studios on stage including Ritchie Studio, Rossetti+Wyss Architekten, AKB Architects, Morph, AUN Design Studio, BORD Architectural Studio, Dome+Partners, Ho Khue Architects, NG Architects, PT Golden Tree Architects, GAUS Architekten, Dost Architektur, Studio RAMO, Steidle Architekten, Sakai Architects, Kris Lin International Design, Acebal Canney Arquitectos & Asociados, Jaime Guzman Creative Group, Sound & Vision, Shinagawa Arquitetura, Maxim Kashin Architects, BUILT Inc., Atwater Inc Studio, Churina Design, AIYA Bureau, Carlo Schembri with Andbold, Minimal Studio, Urbanjobs and DBA.
The SIT Furniture Design Award brought an equally global line-up, honouring ESCOFET, A-01 (A Company / A Foundation) and Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, alongside designers and studios such as Anna Lvovskaya of DA Bureau, Erick Martinez, HMN Handelsagentur, Studio Minus, Sila Yilmaz, Charles O. Job Design, Jan Goderis Design Lab, Franco Driusso of DAA DriussoAssociati Architects, Divan.ru, Olek Furniture, Raju Disain, Robert London Design, Klokner Institute at CTU in Prague, UDIT – Universidad de Diseño Innovación y Tecnología in Spain, ArtCenter College of Design, Howest Kortrijk, Queensland University of Technology, the Royal Danish Academy, Shih Chien University and the Faculties of Design represented by Filippo Sartori and Simone Codutti.
Students from fifteen universities were welcomed on stage throughout the evening, including Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Savannah College of Art and Design, Utah State University and Hochschule Koblenz, alongside previously mentioned institutions such as ETH Zürich, Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL, Shenkar College, UDIT, ArtCenter, Howest, Queensland University of Technology, the Royal Danish Academy and Shih Chien University, marking an extraordinary gathering of emerging designers and ensuring each university appeared only once across the ceremony.
Speaking about the scale of the evening, Astrid Hébert shared: “Standing inside the Elisabethenkirche and seeing designers, students and partners from all over the world gathered in one place was incredibly moving. Bringing the BLT Built Design Awards and the SIT Furniture Design Award together in this historic venue made the scale of the evening truly sink in, and I felt deeply grateful for the energy in the room and for everyone who travelled so far to celebrate with us at the biggest and most inspiring ceremony we have ever hosted.”
This year’s ceremony was supported by media partners including D5 MAG and v2com, marking another year of international collaboration and visibility for the award winners and their work. To explore the winning projects, keep up with upcoming deadlines or get involved in future editions, visit the official award websites and stay part of the global design community.
