9th Asia Young Designer Award winners announced

PETALING JAYA (Nov 28): Winners of the ninth Asia Young Designer Award (AYDA) organised by coatings solution provider Nippon Paint Malaysia Sdn Bhd together with property developer IJM Land Bhd have been announced. The winners in the Student Category will represent Malaysia at the regional Platinum Award in 2017.

The Gold Award winners in the Student Category were David Nee Zhi Kang from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, who also bagged the Best Colour Choice and Best Green Innovation award for the Architecture Brief; and Chai Min Lee from Taylor’s University for the Interior Design Brief.

The Emerging Professional Category was introduced this year to augment the existing Student Category and was open to designers below the age of 35.

In this category, the Gold Award winners for the Architecture Brief and Interior Design Brief were Maryam Zamalik from Asas Architects and Goh Sow Yee from Turn Design, respectively.

This year’s AYDA theme “Be Bold. Be Free. Be You.” was tailored to inspire young interior designers and architects to come up with new and refreshing concepts that encapsulate boldness, freedom and originality.

“For 2016, we broke new ground by introducing a theme that rewards participants to get out of their comfort zones, to venture on new paths and deliver ideas without boundaries — yet staying true to inherent components such as environmental sustainability and community centricity,” said Nippon Paint Malaysia group general manager Gladys Goh in a statement.

“In line with our vision in nurturing design talents, we introduced the Emerging Professional Category to expand our sphere of impact to encompass both students and young professionals.

“I’m pleased to see how some of them have grown tremendously in confidence and capabilities, being bolder in their ideas and concepts,” said Gladys.

Meanwhile, managing director of IJM Land Edward Chong said: “These up-and-coming designers highlighted to me the future of design concepts — visionary, forward-thinking and environmentally sustainable, while bearing hallmarks of the designer’s individuality.

“Promoting individuality and boldness is definitely the way forward in pushing the boundaries beyond our existing design paradigm. Similarly in IJM Land, we intend to raise the bar in all aspects of property development by going beyond architectural excellence and the bounds of conventional thinking,” he said.

More than 1,200 entries from 50 faculties of higher education institutions as well as emerging professionals were received for AYDA 2016.

In addition to internship placements for Student Category winners and cash prizes, Gold winners of AYDA will also be given the opportunity to learn from experts in the field of design, network with like-minded peers, and ultimately compete for the regional Platinum Award in the AYDA Regional Learning Programme, which will be held in Jogjakarta, Indonesia early next year.

AYDA is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysian Institute of Architects, Green Building Index, the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia, Malaysia Green Building Confederation and the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water.