Philippine representative and interior design student Margaret Therese Hagad bagged the Best Sustainable Design title at the regional finale of the prestigious Asia Young Designer Awards (Ayda).
With the theme Human-Centered Design, the competition motivated architecture and interior design competitors to be more innovative, creative and socially involved in design implementation.
The De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde undergraduate competed against participants from nine other countries and clinched the title for Interior Design at the 2020 Nippon Paint Asia Young Designer Awards Philippines.
Her adviser, Benilde instructor Dr. Karol Ann Antonio, was likewise named Best Mentor.
Titled Bagasse Mountain Resort, Hagad’s winning entry introduces a sanctuary of wilderness and wellness equipped with sustainable, corporeal and human-centered design considerations.
She chose Negros Occidental, the sugar capital, as the location of the project and explored how bagasse, the dry pulpy fibrous residue from crushed sugar cane stalks, may be used as partial replacement for cement.
“The Philippines is not alone in facing problems with agricultural waste, poverty and inequity. Bagasse Mountain Resort is only a starting point to demonstrate the potentials of merging design, science and sustainability,” she said.
“This human-centered hospitality model aims to set the standard in creating sustainable and equitable development in the surrounding communities, shift the market to support local production, invest in the pride and human dignity for local artisans and workers, increase employment rates, educate visitors and add the environmental quality of the site.”
Founded in 2008, Ayda has provided a platform for future-proof ideas and has since gathered thousands of young creators from Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
