Quotes from the judges

Professor Jae-Yong Chung from Hongik university, Seoul
“It was such a rewarding moment to be able to participate as a judge in this competition in Pusan. I believe this is truly a good opportunity for Korean students where they could test their design on the shaking table. It was also interesting to have an English presentation as part of the competition. Their English was beyond my expectation. It could have been nice if there was a longer Q&A sessions which could lead to more in-depth debate.

I understood that there was more focus on the structure compared to the architectural design, which meant that most of their designs were quite simple overall. They probably made their decisions on the structure first and started to build the elevation of the building afterwards, which left some potential development for the design.

However, I really do think this is a ‘one of a kind’ competition hardly found in the world, and I hope to see it become an ongoing competition. It would be wonderful if this competition becomes international, with sponsorship which could cover Korea, China and Japan.

Thank you for inviting me to be a judge for this competition, and would be grateful if I could participate in the future, too.”

Wendy Daniell
We really enjoyed working with the Korean students, both online on the discussion forum and in person at the final event.  It was rewarding to see the students engaging with the challenge, treating it as a real-life project, asking serious and intelligent questions, and in preparing for the final event.

At the final, I was impressed with the teams’ presentations.  They spoke well in English and delivered talks in original, professional and entertaining ways.  I especially liked some of the architectural designs for the hospital which grew from concepts linked with the imaginary client’s business and with caring for people.

Adam Crewe
I was pleased to see some innovative designs from the teams in their structural models for the hospital building.  A number of teams were particularly creative in their use of materials for earthquake protection systems.  At the final, it was clear to me that teams had planned the construction of their models carefully.  They used the materials efficiently and worked together in an organised manner to complete well-built models in the limited time.  This high standard of models resulted in an all round good performance during the earthquake tests.  Unfortunately only one model could win the shaking-table tests, and that belonged to Sensation from Hanyang University.  Sensation had adopted a “strong column-weak beam” design which is a recognised system used for earthquake resistant buildings, and the team had added to that with its own system of “guy ropes” to prevent the structure from swaying too much.  It was good design that deserved to win.

Wendy Daniell
The Korean judges and I decided that Fortress from Ajou University should receive the award for the best presentation.  They had a coherent and well-delivered proposal showing an attractive architectural design for the hospital combined supported by a structure that could withstand earthquakes.  They also demonstrated how the local community would benefit immediately and in the long-term from the new hospital through for example increased employment, improved medical facilities and infrastructure development.

Archineer from Yonsei University were selected as the overall winners as they too had an excellent and professional presentation combined with a model that stood for a long time during the shaking-table tests.  Archineer’s building adopted a “super column” system, a method adopted in Taipei 101, one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, which is based in seismically active Taiwan.