Youngsters from across the Island have competed to design a new and exciting way across the River Medina as part of the regeneration plans for Newport Harbour.
From these entries 8 winners are now out to public vote for the most favoured crossing. The winning entry will provide the inspiration for a real-life future Medina crossing as part of the Isle of Wight Council’s Newport Harbour Masterplan.
Judging this year were Paul Armfield – manager of Quay Arts; Claire Hector – director at Artecology and Coleman Cotter – architect and current RIBA Chairman.
The Young Designers Award is presented by local architect Lindsay Mattinson of Mattinson Associates Ltd.
Lindsay said:
“Last year’s competition on the Shanklin Spa site brought about the very exciting collaboration for this year’s awards with the Isle of Wight Council’s Regeneration Team.
“The council is working to regenerate Newport Harbour, with a site that spans from Quay Arts all the way up to Seaclose Park on both sides of the river.
“This year’s competition was to design a link across the Medina for pedestrians, cyclists, cars, trains, dogs or even mice. It could have been made from spiders’ webs or cast iron – all that mattered was it had to be exciting.”
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Competition judge Claire Hector said:
“We were all impressed by the imagination and innovation the young designers had brought to the brief – who wouldn’t want to scoot across the Medina in an octopus tentacle or a hot air balloon?”
Councillor Wayne Whittle, Isle of Wight council Cabinet member for business development, regeneration and tourism, said:
“It was good to see concepts and engineering solutions through the eyes and minds of our Island youth at different stages of their education.
“I’m keen to see some of these fantastic ideas turn into reality, and with the Newport Masterplan coming soon I really think we can give our county town something to be proud of”.
Cabinet member for children’s services, Councillor Paul Brading, said:
“These awards are a great way to celebrate the remarkable talents and imagination of young people from schools across the Island.
“Listening to young people’s voices is an important part of the way we do business; and here the creativity and passion of students is actually influencing what the council does in the future.”
The online voting page with pictures of all the winning structures is https://iwightinvest.com/young-designers-award-2018/.
