Young Malaysian talents shine as winners at AYDA 2020

PETALING JAYA (July 14): Competing against finalists from 13 different locations across Asia, Malaysia’s talent shined through during the 13th instalment of Asia Young Designer Awards’ (AYDA) as Dayana Aripin and Evva Lim Fee Yah emerged as Asia Young Designers of the Year 2020.

AYDA 2020, organised by Nippon Paint Malaysia, with the competition themed ‘Forward: Human-Centred Design’ focuses on imagining a socially conscious space while being innovative and sustainable. All this reflected the reality of the rapid growth of Asian cities alongside technological advancement with a local cultural context which was portrayed in Dayana and Lim’s design.

Dayana’s work entitled ‘Microhousing Within Heritage Context’ was taken into consideration with revitalising the heritage homes of George Town in providing microhouse to the masses as a way to attract locals back into the city centre again. This has resulted in her winning the Architectural Category.

Meanwhile, Lim who won Interior Design Category with her work titled ‘Wo.men’ aspires to create a safe and empowering living environment for women where it is more than just a shelter, but a place to develop skills and opportunities.

“We are very impressed with the work that was put together by the participants and winners for this year’s edition of AYDA,” said one of the judges, Sibrani Sofian, who is also the founder of Urban+.

“As we speed toward creating cities that support sustainable living, we will be challenged to create out-of-box designs and spaces that are able to support commerce and community and are able to withstand the many winds of change we are likely to face in the future.

“This forward-thinking outlook to design and engineering was reflected with great precision in many of the final submissions, making our roles as judges all the more challenging but interesting,” added Sofian.

Another judge Jabeen Zacharias, who is also the chief architect at Jabeen Zacharias Architects, said the entries received this year clearly show that participants are much more than designers and that they understand the human nature and construction of modern-day society

As winners, Dayana and Lim will embark on a fully-sponsored, 6-week Design Discovery program worth US$10,000 (RM42,000) at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in Massachusetts.

As the international competition continues to be held virtually since last year, host Nippon Paint Malaysia has brought a much more unique experience to create more interactivity between participants and industry players by having digital interactions and virtual coaching sessions.

For 2021, AYDA is now opened to receive entry submissions with the theme of ‘Amplifying Empathy through Design’ with the aim to design beyond one-dimensional spaces while incorporating the evolving demand of consumers.

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