A YOUTH community centre which combined a business school with a flea market under one roof won an architectural student the RM10,000 grand prize in the SBC-Taylor’s Architectural Design Award 2007 recently.

Tristyn Andrea Soliano, 21, said it was a tough project, but it had definitely deepened her understanding of architecture.

Tristyn with the winning entry that bagged her the grand prize.

Given the theme “Youth & the Community – Re-energising the Urban Community”, the students had four months to identify and design an urban facility in Kuala Lumpur’s Chow Kit area that promotes community interaction and incorporates a sustainable approach.

Entitled Youth Arts Concourse, Tristyn’s work retained the Chow Kit Market’s trading heritage while infusing it with a touch of culture – enabling young people to gain entrepreneurial skills, market their products and promote Malaysian culture, all in one location.

“My work is inspired by the songket design. I wanted to create a place with a strong cultural identity that connects youths with the rest of society through education and business,” said Tristyn, who will be leaving this September for the University of Strathclyde in Scotland to further her studies.

During the course of their project, the students experienced real-life situations such as visiting the proposed location for site analysis and meeting City Hall officials to look at documents related to designing their facility.

The competition is a joint initiative by SBC Corporation and Taylor’s College School of Architecture, Building and Design (SABD).

SBC Corporation corporate director Sia Teong Leng said identifying the winner was a tough decision as all the ideas were good.

The university college's president, Ooi Chee Kok, said while education was crucial for developing skills, industry support was just as important to ensure youths were constantly exposed to the real world.

All students received merit certificates and will have their projects featured in SABD's publication Steps.

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