Young designers answer the challenge for the future
A Commission on Population (PopCom) report says that the Philippines ranks 13th among the countries with the biggest population in the world with more than 100 million residents as of this year. More than 40 percent of it live in urban areas such as Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and other key cities, based on the statistics of Worldometers.
This raises the challenge of building and designing strong infrastructure that would cater the need of the people and that would be resilient through the years. These are the same challenges Asia Young Designer Award (AYDA) gave to all of their participants this year.
Formerly known as Nippon Paint Young Designer Award, AYDA is an annual competition for young architecture and interior design students in the country. It aims to encourage the future designers to express their creativity, showcase their talents, and fuel their passion for design.
“AYDA aims to nurture the talents of young creative professionals. This design competition is bestowing a more permanent and lasting solution because we help hone the talents of the future designers who would be responsible for our structures and for our spaces,” explained Michael Alfred Francisco, general manager of Nippon Paint (Coatings) Philippines, Inc.
With the theme, “You for Tomorrow: Future Living as Envisioned Today,” over a thousand students from more than 40 schools and universities all over the Philippines submitted their entries. These are filtered based on the criteria of green and sustainable design concept, innovation, color and oral presentation. In the end, only one of them bagged the Gold award for Architecture and Interior Design category respectively.
Although it was the first time that the University of the Philippines (UP) participated in the competition, their 21-year-old Architecture student Marie Eirene Fabon won the Gold Award with her entry Project ‘Bigkisan.’
In the Interior Design Category, the project that aims to eradicate the stigma about mental health won the interest of the judges and hailed as the champion. The 19-year-old creator is Diana Marie Manansala, from the University of Sto. Tomas
Both winners received P50,000 cash each, and a six-month internship with Nippon partners. They will also represent the country in the AYDA regional competition to be held in Malaysia next year.
Fabon and Manansala are also entitled to be part of AYDA Learning Program. This is an all-expense, educational opportunity for them to meet and interact with the other gold winners from 14 different countries from the region and to learn from exclusive sessions and lectures to be given by respected Architects and Interior Designers.
For information, visit www.youngdesigneraward.ph or www.nipponpaint.ph.