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See a gallery of winners and commended entries from 2018.

Entry Description: This bridge remains colourful and simple when closed and when it opens to allow boats to pass through, it parts to form a rainbow of cascading water, introducing movement and sound to the area.

Judges’ Comments: “The fact that it was a flat model that then could be opened up and make an interesting shape was ingenious for this age category.”

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Entry Description: This Classic Japanese inspired bridge is made of two large sheets of irregular steel set on a curve. It is smooth and simple in form yet complicated by the introduction of a variety of hanging pot plants suspended under the bridge. This provides movement and change in form when the bridge opens to let boats pass.

Judges’ Comments: “Wonderful, almost a full ‘Artecology’ installation! Lovely colourful drawing and maturity shown in the execution of the model.”

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Entry Description: A sensory experience for the whole family. The structure is a tourist and public attraction in its own right. Light and texture have influenced the structure using stained glass windows and the pendulum mechanism swings you through the structure from one side to the other.

Judges’ Comments: “Colours through the glass would have amazing reflections on the river.”

Entry Description: A kaleidoscope of coloured glass forms the structure encapsulating a public green space that spins around to take you from one side to the other in a glass ball. This allows boats to go past and provides a usable green space that moves.

Judges’ Comments: “Fantastic movement that can get up to quite a speed! Loved the rainbow effect with the coloured glass and a great thought process, yet simple.”

Entry Description: This Ferris wheel inspired crossing sits half in the water and half out. The carriages alternate between carrying cars and people. Boats can pass through the centre of the Ferris structure at all times.

Judges’ Comments: “Nobody else has taken people under the water. It would be quite an experience to take a ride!”

Entry Description: Two iron arms are half crane, half grasshopper leg. They move from side to side to carry people across the water.

Judges’ Comments: “Inspiration has been drawn from surrounding industry, yet it has organic references to the mechanism of a grasshopper leg. Great idea for movement and a Brutalist nod to the docklands it sits within. Reference has been cleverly made to floating buoys and sail-like cranes to make the structure.”

Entry Description: A crab shaped structure lending reference to the seaside providing a simple footbridge over the river. Hydraulic pistons open the crab claws and two halves of the bridge part. It’s constructed of weathered metal to form a rusty patina that will become more orange and crab-like with time.

Judges’ Comments: “Lovely idea and wonderful thought about the Corten steel and its weathering, lending reference to the docklands setting and crab characteristics.”

Entry Description: The blue balloons are filled with air to raise the main part of the bridge for boats to pass underneath and deflated to drop it back in place for cars to pass over the river.

Judges’ Comments: “Loved the simplicity of the mechanism for moving parts up and down, a really novel idea that was out of the ordinary.”

The Young Designers Award is presented by
Lindsay Mattinson of Mattinson Associates Ltd – Chartered Architect

Lindsey explains the background to the award.

“The YDA sets out to achieve 3 goals

“The 1st goal: To emphasise the importance of the built environment
Buildings and the spaces between them can conjure up emotions in you, they can depress you or delight you. Our surroundings can make us healthier and less likely to drop litter, enhance our outlook on life, increase our perception of wellness and enable us to think more clearly & creatively. We all like environments that excite our curiosity and make us feel secure, relaxed & content.

“The 2nd goal: To engage young people in design, architecture & the built environment
The design of our built environment affects us all – particularly children & young people. We all spend most of our lives in and around buildings, we are all born in buildings, live, work & go to school in buildings. The functionality, design & aesthetics of these buildings & the space between them provide the back drop to our everyday lives, so we deserve to have an inspiring environment! The places & spaces that people inhabit fundamentally influence their enjoyment of life, so getting it right should be a priority for us all. Talking about it is the start… a new beginning for better designed places & spaces.  But the YDA is not only about raising awareness of the built environment.

“The 3rd Goal: To re-introduce creative thinking on a larger scale & platform
Todays’ society doesn’t necessarily approve of creativity, nor encourage it. Schooling today tends to limit creativity because it’s heavily focused on memorising facts and gaining top results. This is unfortunate as, in todays’ working world the only way to separate yourself from the rest of the pack is to demonstrate how well you can think for yourself and implement your creativity to provide new solutions.
Creativity solves problems on a different level and blue-chip companies have recently started to champion this across all career paths. Without creativity there is no innovation. Creative thinkers will forge the next generational leap in business, technology & industry. The YDA introduces an element of creative thinking through design process to solve a set of problems by coming up with inspiring ideas and promoting out of the box thinking.

“YDA have come a long way from the 1st competition in 2013. They now speak in schools about the design process and the importance of the built environment and find youngsters more engaged than ever before.

“Last years’ competition on the Shanklin Spa site brought about the very exciting collaboration for this years’ YDA with the Isle of Wight Council’s Regeneration Team.
The Isle of Wight Council’s Regeneration team has been put together to help with the implementation of the regeneration of areas of the Island that are in need of reviving and require improvement and growth. They are driven to deliver well thought-out spaces and are championing improved public realm. Their flagship site is the regeneration of Newport Harbour, with a site that spans from the Quay Arts Centre all the way up to the end of Seaclose Park on both sides of the river. This is envisioned to become a busy and vibrant promenade. The river will be lined with new restaurants, bars, places to stay, music venues and student accommodation. All of this new life will mean more and more people will be using the river and they will want to visit all of these new exciting spaces. The current problem is that there is be no way to get from one side to the other! A new way of crossing over the River Medina is needed!

“This is where the YDA competition comes in! This years’ competition was to design a link for pedestrians, cyclists, cars, trains, dogs or even mice. It could be made from spider’s webs or cast iron, all that mattered was that it’s an exciting new way to get across. It was important to remember that boats still need to get past so there needed to be consideration of moving parts in the design. We asked entrants to be as outrageous and creative as possible, and that anything and everything would be considered! And that is exactly what we got!

“Judging this year was carried out by a group of talented and creative locals who all contribute in a unique way to the Island. Our 3 judges were: Paul Armfield – Manager of Quay Arts, Claire Hector – Director at Artecology and Coleman Cotter – Architect & current RIBA Chairman. All entries were split into their age categories and those that caught the eye of the judges, looked interesting and met the brief were separated out. The judges then deliberated over the description of the entry, relating drawings & execution into a 3D model. Each entry was evaluated against a set of 10 criteria and marked out of 100. From this the judges then decided on medal places for first, second, third and commendations. The judges’ decisions are independent, final and non-biased.”