As I’m finishing up Verganti’s Design-Driven Innovation, a door wins Architectural Review’s Emerging Architecture Award. I’m completely enamored with the idea and the aesthetics of this door: the meaning of a door as a static object that interrupts a space has been totally upended.

Could a focus group have given an architect enough insight to lead to such a door? If you’ve also been thinking about the issues of democratic design vs. monarchical design, I highly recommend Verganti’s book. His work is a result of soaking himself in the Italian design system—the one that birthed Kartell’s Bookworm bookcase and Alessi’s range of Family Follows Fiction kitchen tools—which has a design process that is significantly different from the user-centered design thinking process. Even if you’ve sworn your designerly life to be an advocate of user-centered design, this is a provocative book.

A more reflective piece on the issue of democratic design vs. monarchical design is underway (but it is December and the holiday season will undoubtedly get in the way). In the meantime, you’ll have to believe me that Verganti wants you to know that the future belongs to those who can innovate meaning.

Image credit: The Architectural Review