Story & photos by Jacqueline Salvador-Marvida
THE prestigious Asia Young Designer Award (AYDA), on its third year, just concluded recently with the theme “Be Bold, Be Free, Be You”.
A surprising number of entries from 27 schools from all over the country combined for both Architecture and Interior Design categories totaling to 1,200 submissions. “Through AYDA, Nippon Paint urges student-designers to think beyond mainstream design, unconventional methods and employ uninhibited creativity in taking on concepts that are out of the ordinary,” explained Gladys-goh Group general manager of Nippon Paint Malaysia Group.
First launched in 2008 in Malaysia as Nippon Paint Young Designer Award, AYDA continuously aims to nurture the next generation of designers to produce good, enduring, and innovative designs that enable efficiency and improve the way people live. The competition had tremendously drawn so much attention that the submissions through the years has continued to gather the best and the brightest talent from all over the region. From its debut of 87 entries from Malaysia, the competition has grown, collecting over 3,500 entries from last year across 12 countries: the Philippines, Singapore, Bangladesh, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, China, Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. It was introduced in the Philippines in 2014.
This year it broke new grounds by introducing a theme that encourages 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. AYDA aims to be the springboard where young talents can express their distinctive mark as designers to watch for in the local and international arena. The Gold winners will represent the Philippines to be on the running for the competition’s regional Platinum Award to be held in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, this year.
The judges in the annual competition are renowned and respectable architects and interior designers in the industry, who keenly filtered through each submission to select the most creative and innovative designs for each category, and also providing the participants necessary advice and feedbacks of their designs. The criteria include assessing the environmental impact of the design materials, maintenance, energy usage, water and waste management, as well as the creative use of color through Nippon Paint products.
For the architecture category, brightest upcoming architects were lauded for their phenomenal structures that exhibit a one-of-a-kind spin in solving familiar day-to-day problems. In the Interior Design category, they focused on the consideration of social, economic, and cultural values in transforming spaces and the lives of the people who moved them.
The judges for the Architecture category were Arch. Nina Bailon Arce, Arch. Consuelo Buencamino, Arch. And interior designer Eduardo Calma, Arch. Jose Ramon Carunungan, Arch. Chona Elvas-Ponce, Arch. Maria Benita Regala and Arch. Abelardo M. Tolentino. For the Interior Design category were interior designer Mariche Castelo, interior designer Jose Maria Hubilla, interior designer Wilfrid Nicholo Magcase, interior designer Belen Morey, Interior designer Michael Pizzaro, interior designer Mel Reyes and interior designer Vincent Louie Tan.
AYDA grand prize winners will receive P50,000 cash prize, as well as a six-month internship with top architectural firm Aidea Inc. and top interior-design firm Lor Calma and Partners. The Gold winners have the chance to learn from experts in the field of design, network with like-minded peers and to ultimately compete for the regional Platinum award in AYDA Regional Programme.
The winners that took the center of attention for the Architecture Design category were James Tad and Ryan Bardon of the University of Santo Tomas with the design “Sucat South Station”. The gold winner, who will represent the country in Indonesia, was awarded to Maria Rebecca Plaza from National University with the design “Project Noah”. For the Interior Design category of the silver award went to Gillian Guiang of the University of the Philippines. The gold winner was Noelle Samantha C. Bernardo of College of Saint Benilde.
AYDA 2016 is supported by the Council of Interior Design Educators, Council of Deans and Heads of Architectural Schools in the Philippines, Lor Calma and Partners, Aidea Inc., Philippine Institute of Interior Designers, United Architects of the Philippines, LBC and SM Development Corp.
Image credits: Jacqueline Salvador-Marvida