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29 March 2024

UAE students challenged to design science and play experience concepts of future

Published
By Wam

The Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation’s, DIDI, Project Design Space, the UAE’s largest design challenge for schools, has launched its 2019 programme with an extraordinary opportunity for young people.

Participating students, aged 11 to 18 years, will work with Dubai Holding to design concepts for the future of playing and learning in Dubai.

Returning for its third season, Dubai Holding has offered 4,000 participating Project Design Space, PDS, students the opportunity to work alongside its lead designers and urban planners to design concepts for experiential play and learning spaces. Melding best practices in science, education, innovation and fun, the young designers have the opportunity to learn from one of the UAE’s largest companies to devise new ideas that could drive forward the visions of sustainability and innovation in the city for future generations.

Supported by DIDI, these young future designers from 70 schools across the UAE, participating in PDS, will be asked to develop projects that have the potential to make a lasting impact on the city, learning from Dubai Holding’s market-leading development, planning, hospitality, and destination expertise.

Centred on Dubai Holding’s ethos of "For the good of tomorrow", students will be tasked with presenting design concepts that meet the needs of children and their families. The only requirements being that the project ideas should be educational and fun, accessible to and inclusive of people’s different skill levels and abilities, and have the goal of building a lasting legacy for the people of Dubai.

Amit Kaushal, CEO of Dubai Holding said, "Dubai Holding launched DIDI in 2016 in order to meet the region’s growing demand for talented designers and innovators. DIDI’s Project Design Space is an excellent initiative that will give the next generation of designers an opportunity to work alongside professional designers and specialists and be exposed to real-world projects. As an organisation, Dubai Holding is proud to support this initiative and we look forward to sharing our knowledge and expertise with some of the nation’s brightest young minds."

"The students’ ideas will not be limited. We will ask them to think big about what they would like to see in a project that focuses on sustainability and innovation through play and learning. The results could be part playground, part science museum, and part water park or part play space. The sky is the limit."

Mohammad Abdullah, President of DIDI said, "We are thrilled with the overwhelming response we have received to Project Design Space in 2019, as the number of students taking part has tripled from last year. The design challenges have really inspired students across the UAE, to put their design thinking to the test and we look forward to seeing the solutions that they will present."

Participating PDS students will be mentored by their school teachers during after-school club meetings to prepare solutions for the client design briefs. Student PDS finalists will then attend a design ‘boot camp’ hosted by DIDI, where they will receive expert feedback and coaching from the university’s faculty and staff. Finalists will be invited to a special event on 23rd March, 2019, at DIDI’s university campus in Dubai Design District (d3), where teams will pitch design prototypes to their clients and attend an award ceremony.