USM PENANG, 12 July 2021 - Once again, a student from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Housing, Building and Planning (HBP), Dayana Aripin has her name flying high when she was awarded the Asia Young Designer of The Year Award for Architectural Category at the Asia Young Designers Awards (AYDA) 2021 recently.

First launched in 2008, the Asia Young Designers Awards (AYDA) is part of Nippon Paint’s vision to nurture the next generation of Architectural and Interior Design talents.

The Dean of HBP, Associate Professor Ir. Dr. Abdul Naser Abdul Ghani said this achievement is one of a kind that can boost the spirit and encourage all students to continue pursuing excellence in whatever field they are competing in, whether at the local or international level.

Meanwhile, for Dayana, who really feel that this is one of her top achievements, thanked all those who have always supported her in pushing for success.

On the project of Microhousing Within the Heritage Context, Dayana throttled on until the end and managed to overcome the challenges posed by the other competitors.

Representing the country, Dayana competed with 15 other Gold award winners from different countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Japan, all chosen earlier from the competition in their respective countries.

It was in December last year that Dayana was selected as the Gold Winner at the national level, leading to this Asian level and remarkably, Dayana won the Asia Awards and received a trophy, cash prize of $1,000 and also the opportunity to attend the Design Discovery Program at Harvard University in the U.S. according to the organiser, Nippon Paint.

AYDA serves as a platform to inspire students of these disciplines to develop their skills through cross-learning opportunities and networking with key industry players, as well as their fellow peers in the region.

Since then, AYDA has grown in terms of reach and stature, and has now established itself as one of Asia’s premier design awards, having received more than 35,000 entries from over 1,200 tertiary education institutions to date, across 16 different geographical locations in Asia.

Over the years, AYDA has impacted thousands of young and talented student designers, presenting them with various opportunities to engage with renowned speakers and key figures in the design industry.

The platform has enabled the participants to gain first-hand industry knowledge, personalised coaching, mentoring and skill-building, through various workshops conducted by experienced lecturers and industry professionals.

On top of that, the experience gained allowed participants to learn from their fellow peers from within and across borders and every year, AYDA presents yet another opportunity for young design talents to push their design boundaries further beyond the norm.

Text: Hafiz Meah Ghouse Meah/Infographic: Ebrahim Abdul Manan