By Wahida Fitriah
GOMBAK, 12 January 2022: In conjunction with the 14th Asia Young Designer Awards (AYDA), Muhammad Afzal Bin Asmi from Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design (KAED), won first place in the architectural category.
On the other hand, Amirah Afiqah, a student at City University of Malaysia won the first prize in the interior design category.
AYDA has become synonym among architectural and interior design students in Malaysia since it is an annual prestigious competition organised by Nippon Paint Malaysia in collaboration with IJM Land Berhad.
Despite Malaysia’s facing the pandemic throughout 2021, the students were persistent to participate in the competition, hence, AYDA received 1,276 entries for both architectural and interior design categories.
AYDA was held for the second time during the pandemic of 2021. So, due to the constraints of COVID-19, activities such as personalised coaching and mentoring for the participants were conducted virtually.
In regard to the theme FORWARD: Amplifying Empathy Through Design, focusing on the multiple functions and stability of the building structure, Muhammad Afzal and Amirah Afiqah had successfully widened the scope of architectural design considering their impressive concept and innovation, thoughtful perspectives and the ability to meet consumers’ needs as well as the requirements of the theme.
Group Managing Director of Nippon Paint, Mr. Yaw Seng Heng said, “In the current era of architectural and interior design, designers’ creativity is needed to balance between commercial value and incorporating the elements of nature as well as consumers’ emotions.”
Afzal’s project, which is better known as Sejahtera Community Centre, aimed to enhance the quality of life of local entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile Amirah’s innovation emphasised on mangrove for the purposes of commercial, social, educational and conservation of its habitat.
As representatives of Malaysia, Afzal and Amirah will be competing with participants from 16 other countries in presenting their projects internationally.
If they win the first place for both categories, they will be sponsored to join the Design Discovery programme for six weeks at University Graduate School of Design in Boston, America. ***
Source: Remaja