Asia Young Designer Award

Date: 13 April 2017
Company: Nippon Paint

Nippon Paint recently hosted a three-day Asia Young Designer Award (AYDA) 2016 Regional Learning Programme in Yogyakarta (Indonesia), which served as the grand finale where the winners of each of the 15 participating countries competed for the regional Platinum award. The event was attended by approximately 300 design students and leading industry professionals from across Asia.

Chai Min Li, a 23-year-old Malaysian, was crowned the Platinum Winner for the Interior Design Category, with her concept of The Common Place: Regeneration of Pudu Market, taking home the USD1,000 prize.

The Platinum Winner of the Architecture Category is Ueda Mitsumori, 25, whose concept idea of The Old Matsuo River School looked at a seamless integration of the old town with the new. By building schools on the site to replicate the path where the river used to flow in the Izumi City of Osaka, the project celebrates the fusion of traditional past with modernity.

This year’s AYDA Regional Learning Programme also included coaching sessions, a study tour of Borobudur, and sharing sessions with some of Asia’s leading design practitioners, such as Datuk Dr Ar Ken Yeang (Malaysia), Ar Colin Seah (Singapore), Ar Sibarani Sofian (Indonesia) and Malaysian entrepreneur Ee Soon Wei.

Yeang, who is the principal of Hamzah & Yeang, was the keynote speaker of the day and spoke on the importance of the seamless integration of four key elements in a design concept—nature, human, water and the built environment. He is best known for his signature ecological-based approach to architecture and master planning.

AYDA was first introduced in Malaysia in 2008. This year’s awards—themed Be Bold. Be Free. Be You.—received more than 4,500 entries from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea.