President’s Design Award to undergo format tweaks

SINGAPORE – The President’s Design Award (PDA) is taking this year off and will make a comeback next year with new judging criteria. The event will also be held on a biennial cycle.

The new judging criteria for Singapore’s most prestigious award for designers and design projects will emphasise designs that have demonstrated a transformational impact on society, businesses or the public sector, in addition to the usual criteria of excellence in design craftsmanship. The DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) announced the changes on Thursday (July 20).

“The role of design in society has changed, especially in recent years,” Dsg executive director Agnes Kwek said. “Businesses and governments no longer use design for just aesthetics — in other words, to make things pretty — but they are using design as a process of innovation. Design used in this way has resulted in innovative products and services, or has helped to address complex social issues such as urban density and ageing.”

“Design is a game changer,” she added. “The President’s Design award will embrace the transformative power and the inclusive values of design.”

The revamped PDA will also offer greater local and international exposure to award recipients through tie-ups with British, Danish and American international awards.

“We wanted to implement these changes well, so the awards will go from an annual cycle to a biennial cycle,” Kwek said.

URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) group director for Architecture & Urban Design Excellence Larry Ng added: “A biennial award will allow more time for new architectural projects to fully evolve which, in turn, enables us to better assess the sustained impact that the projects have on their surroundings and users.”

“For non-architectural projects, this approach will similarly encourage more submissions from multi-disciplinary fields by allowing sufficient time for complex outcome-based projects to incubate and have their impact felt,” he said.

The President’s Design Award 2017/18 is now open for nominations and submissions for Designer of the Year 2017/18 and Design of the Year 2017/18. Administered by the Dsg and the URA, the award, which was inaugurated in 2006, has been conferred upon 39 Designer of the Year recipients and 99 Design of the Year recipients so far.

The changes were welcomed by the design community.

James Quan, co-founder of Bynd Artisan, custom bookbinding and leather-craft atelier, said: “(It is) always good to reach a wider international audience with the tie-ups. This will also make the awards more prestigious.”

Founder of local design studio Onlewo, Mike Tay, felt the changes offer a “clearer focus on the areas (the awards) look out for when assessing the candidates”.

The partnerships with local and international design communities, he added, are the “icing on the cake” as they would enhance and promote local designs and designers as well as “inspire our young to scale new heights”.

“I feel that there is a 360-degree approach towards the goals and purpose behind this award,” Tay said.