Students from the PNG University of Technology will participate in an inaugural design competition launched today in Lae by South Pacific Paint and Nippon Paint.
The inaugural Nippon Paint Young Designer Award (NPYDA) 2015 is for PNG and Unitech’s architectural students from year three up are invited to participate, says South Pacific Paint Sales and marketing manager Sam Webb.
“The winners will be awarded with recognition from Nippon Paint for their unique and conceptual designs and will also receive an array of prizes,” Webb said when launching the program at the Building and Architecture Department at Unitech.
The theme for this year’s competition was “Design with Heart: For a Sustainable Future: With People in Mind”.
PNG was invited after the award has grown over the years in 11 Asian countries since 2008 and emerged as one of Asia’s most reputable design competitions.
“Papua New Guinea has now been invited to participate however this year will be judged independently by a panel of judges consisting of locally based experts in the architecture industry,” said Webb.
“In the coming years, South Pacific Paint hopes to include the PNG entrants in the global NPYDA competition, where winning the award [gains] international recognition and provides a platform for emerging arctitects to share their ideas with industry experts”.
The same criteria will be followed in PNG as in other regions, however Nippon Paint and South Pacific Paint hope to see a lot of entries highlighting the unique traditional culture and environment that PNG has to offer, Webb added.
South Pacific Paint, which has offices in Lae and Port Moresby with 17 dealers nationwide, was awarded the exclusive distribution rights for the Nippon Paint products in the Pacific. Nippon Paint has 130 years of heritage and is one of the leading brands of paint in the Asian region.
The launch was attended by students, department staff, competition officials and media.