The Asia Young Designer Awards (?AYDA?) was first launched in 2008 as part of Nippon Paint?s vision to nurture the next generation of design talents. The event serves as a platform to inspire architecture and interior design students to develop their skills through cross-learning opportunities and networking with key industry players as well as fellow architecture and interior design peers in the region. AYDA has since grown in terms of reach and stature and has now established itself as one of Asia?s premier design award across 15 countries namely Bangladesh, China and region of China (Hong Kong & Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. 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. Not only has the exposure enabled the participants to gain first hand industry knowledge, personalised coaching, mentoring and skill-building through various workshops by experienced lecturers, they also learn from their fellow peers from across borders. With that, AYDA has established a close-knit design community comprising professional architects, interior designers, industry associations, partners, design schools, alumni and design students. Participants are required to submit their architectural and interior design ideas based on a design theme, specially curated by design professionals and associations. The design themes are established to translate the essence of AYDA i.e. colour-focused direction, eco and sustainability-focused, pushing design boundaries, community and people centric design, design originality and future forward thinking which will help to create positive impacts in the world.
Amirreza Ghadiri (student of Dr. Farajollahi Rad), a finalist in the field of architecture, as the only representative of Iran, won the award for "Best Sustainable Design", which is the first time that an Iranian has won this title in the "AYDA" international competition.