Organizers of the inaugural Design Beyond East & West Award hold a ceremony at the ADI Design Museum in Milan, April 22. Kookmin University, one of Korea’s leading institutions in design education, and the Italian Association for Industrial Design co-hosted the event. Courtesy of Kookmin University
Kookmin University, one of Korea’s leading institutions in design education, co-hosted for the first time an international design award ceremony jointly with the Italian Association for Industrial Design (ADI) in Milan last week.
The university said the inaugural Design Beyond East & West (DBEW) Award, held at the ADI Design Museum, served not only as an award ceremony, but also as a forum where students, educators and experts discussed the future of design.
Kookmin announced that the Gold Prize was awarded to Baoyi Huang and professor David Buck from the University of Sheffield for their design work titled “Ecological Samsara — Soundscape Transformation of Parkwood Springs.”
The Silver Prizes went to three teams from HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Avantika University in India and L'École de design Nantes Atlantique in France.
Kookmin University noted that the award is a global recognition reflecting the design values and aesthetics of Asian culture within the broader context of world design.
Based on a new design paradigm that transcends the boundaries between East and West, the award highlighted creative design education and its achievements for the future society in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
“The DBEW Award serves as a platform that demonstrates the potential of a global educational cluster in which universities transcend the boundaries of nations and disciplines to share technology and philosophy in addressing common challenges facing humanity," Jeong Seung-ryul, president of Kookmin University, said.
He added, “It will become both a new role model and a practical compass for design education in the AI era.”
The university said that unlike conventional competitions, the award attracted significant attention from the international design community by recognizing and honoring the collaborative achievements of both students and educators.
Source: Korea Times News
