Chicago, Illinois, Usa
A Polestar 4 Electric Performance SUV Coupé by Polestar and Volvo; HP’s new EliteBook X G2; the Interact 20 Elevator Signalization by Kone, a New Biochar Technology that Transforms Buildings into Carbon Sinks by Chilean Architect Alejandro Aravena for Holcim; OctoCharge: The Ultimate, Green, User-Friendly EV Charging Experience by Octopus Energy; the new Spring Chair by Martin Ballendat for Nurus; a New Dopamine Peak 11-Speed Bike by Desiknio Cycles SLU/ myStromer AG.; a High-End Fully Automatic Espresso Machine by Philips; the XTLG Electric Forklifts by Hyster Yale Group; and an Amphibious/Luxury Semi-submerged Hotel Resort with Floating Suites in Qatar by Italian Architect Giancarlo Zema Heads the List of Winners of Green Good Design for 2026.
Organized by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, this special GREEN edition of GOOD DESIGN® presents most important new international products and buildings and construction and planning projects that are leading the global way to a design that is fully sustainable and compatible with the highest standards of good environment.
For 2026, hundreds of submissions for product designs, graphics, packaging, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning projects were submitted to the Museum and a jury selected to honor visionary designers, manufacturers, and clients from over 32 nations who emphasize the most advanced “Green Approach” and the most sophisticated methods and technology to make the most positive impact on the global environment
Founded in Chicago in 1950 by Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames, GOOD DESIGN remains the oldest and most established awards program for the most innovative and visionary new product design worldwide.
For over 75 years now, the Award has been given to everything and anything from a NASA space ship to a paper clip. In 2025, over 1,100 new product designs and graphics from over 50 nations were recognized with the distinguished GOOD DESIGN Award.
The world’s most prominent FORTUNE 500 companies use the GOOD DESIGN logo in the branding of their products, which has become a strong and effective mark of public recognition of Design Excellence globally.
“This year’s awarded green buildings and products,” states Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, Architecture Critic and Museum President/CEO, The Chicago Athenaeum, “seek to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of building occupants and product users, thereby improving building performance and adding a sustainable alternative to day-to-day items. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments.”
“According to the World Commission on the Environment and Development, sustainability is a form of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Sustainable design is a movement focused on the future, some of the principles involved in creating sustainable designs are actually pretty old.
Concepts like designing products and packaging to be reused and reworked into new products later and building them with universal parts to make repairs easy and accessible later stretch back more than a hundred years.
“Sustainability is as much about process as it is about product. Seeing design as a process empowers designers and manufacturers to better evaluate and anticipate the environmental, economical and social impacts and costs of building and consumer products.”
“Bigger-picture evaluations at the start of a project lead to better long-term decisions—and that leads to greater overall success.”
“Effective sustainable design is a comprehensive approach to selecting and integrating products and processes that account for long-term consumer satisfaction and environmental conservation,” continues Narkiewicz-Laine.
“Sustainable design as demonstrated in this year’s Green GOOD DESIGN Awards shares that big-picture view of how our choices affect more than the present
For 2026, Green GOOD DESIGN awarded buildings, urban plans, and product design from the following 32 nations include: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, México, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Türkiye, United Kingdom, USA, and Vietnam.
Leading international manufacturers, design, architecture, and landscape architecture offices are honored:
3XN • 44LLC. • a-fact architecture factory • Aapo Saari • AG&P Greenscape • Aidlin Darling Design • Alejandro Aravena • Anderssen & Voll • Andropogon Associates • architects—Alliance • Architecture49 • Architekturbüro Nouri-Schellinger • Armando Ferriani • Behnisch Architekten • Berger Partnership • Bluetti Power Inc. • BIOLAB Innovation GmbH • BOOM Landscape bv. • Brook Landscaping • Chain10 Architecture & Interior Design Institute • China Construction Design International (LDI) • Cobe • Copper • CRB Arquitectos • CSW Landscape Architects Limited • Dell Technologies • Design that Matters • Designwolf • Donald Lococo Architects LLC. • Dorothy Cosonas • DP Architects Pty Ltd. • Elemental • Elkus Manfredi Architects • EOOS Design • EskewDumezRipple • Form4 Architecture • Felixx Landscape Architects & Planners • Florim SpA SB • Frameless Landscape Architects • GAD Global Architectural Development • Gallego Arquitectura • Gensler • Genus Landscape Architects • Giancarlo Zema Design Group • Goettsch Partners • Ground, Inc. • Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd. • HASTINGS Architecture. LLC. • Hawkins Partners, Inc. • Heller • Henriquez Partners Architects • HKS • HOK Canada, Inc. • Holcim Limited • HP Inc. • HPP Architekten • Hyster-Yale Group • IBI Group, Inc. • IwamotoScott Architecture • Jackery Inc. • JCPCDR Architecture • Kaunitz Yeung Architecture • KHAA (Kuo+Huang and Associates) • KONE Corporation • Kumho Tire • LAND Italia srl. • Latz + Partner • Leers Weinzapfel Associates • Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. KG. • L.I.M. Design Work Ltd. • Loft Design • LUO studio • Luum Textiles • LX Hausys America, Inc. • Marc Thorpe Design • Mary-Ann Williams • Mark Cavagnero Associates • Martin Ballendat • Mauricio Ceballos X Architects • Maximilian Missoni • Mikyoung Kim Design • MKW + Associates, LLC. • Morphogenesis Architecture Studio Pvt. Ltd. • MR Studio Co. • Mullin Landscape Associates LLC. • Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects • NEO Architecture, Inc. • Neumann Monson Architects • Nikolaus Frank • Northwest Studio • Numaş Teknoloji Üretim A.Ş. • OBR Open Building Research srl. • OLIN • Octopus Energy • Okumura Corporation • PAYETTE • Philips Experience Design • PJCArchitecture • Polestar AB • RAB Lighting Inc. • Ralph Appelbaum Associates • PFS Studio • Pricer AB • Sage and Coombe Architects • Sanjay Puri Architects • SCAPE Landscape Architecture • Schiller Projects • Shenzhen Nosign Architectural Design Co., Ltd. • Skylab Architecture • Signify • Sino Group • Studio Gang • Superbloom • Surfacedesign • Tchoban Voss Architekten GmbH • Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. • tono Inc. • TOTO Ltd. • Turf Design • Ulrich Merkle • Vestre Inc. • Vincent Callebaut Architectures • Visa Rauta • WSP • ZJA Architects & Engineers and other visionary designers and manufacturers.
“We congradulate these important global leaders for their outstanding achievements in finding far thinking solutions to the problems of sustainability and protecting our human environment,” states Narkiewicz-Laine
“GOOD DESIGN Award is an internationally recognized seal of quality with a history that spans more than 75 years as the world’s first and oldest and most prestigious awards programs honoring the best, most innovative, and cutting-edge design today.”
2026 Green GOOD DESIGN winners are featured in an upcoming book entitled Green GOOD DESIGN 2025-2026, which is published by Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd.
GOOD DESIGN’s Chief Curator on the 2026 Awarded Green Laureates:
“From the hundreds of designers and manufacturers who participated this year, the winners of Green GOOD DESIGN for 2026 have proved that they have created excellent products worthy of winning an award. The products won over the jury not only through their aesthetic, but also thanks to their incomparable functionality. With their designs, the award winners are setting the highest standards in their industry. I wish to congratulate them most sincerely on their continued success,” said Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, Architecture and Design Critic and Chief Curator of Good Design.
