Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology

TAR UC’s team of architecture students was elated after having won the “PAM Best Booth Display Award” and “Favourite Booth Award” at the PAM Architecture Student Works Exhibition 2018 competition.

TAR UC students brought in a number of top prizes in 3 architectural competitions conducted from 17 – 21 October 2018. They won the “PAM Best Booth Display Award” and “Favourite Booth Award” in the PAM Annual Architecture Student Works Exhibition 2018 (‘PAASWE18’), 1st place in the “Most Creative & Innovative Video category in the PAM Student Multimedia Competition 2018 and the 1st place in the Stick Structure Competition.

The winners in PAASWE18 consist of a group of 40 students from Year 2, Bachelor of Science in Architecture (Hons) programme. The winners of the other two competitions were Soon Kok Yang in the PAM Student Multimedia Competition 2018 and Nicholas Liew Yuung in the Stick Structure Competition. There were 23 teams from 23 institutions of higher learning vying for the title in PAASWE18 whereas in the PAM Student Multimedia Competition, there were 20 entries from 6 institutions of higher learning. As for the Stick Structure Competition, there were 48 participants from 7 institutions of higher learning competing with each other.

On the structure they created for the PAASWE18 competition, Toh Koon Theng and Yap May Xian who are the project directors of the PAASWE18 winning group, shared the idea and rationale in its construction. “Our idea was to create a different atmosphere upon entering the structure. By having a plain and unknown outer shell, a black box, which is fabricated with metal sheet, it stirs up curiosity and excitement among the visitors before they enter the booth. Once the visitors step in, they will be greeted by the warmly lit organic form interior of stacked bamboo segments. This creates a third dimensional world inside the tunnel that triggers a person’s sensory sensation. There are displays arranged behind the bamboo walls which are interspersed with intriguing peepholes that direct one to specific exhibits. This viewing experience of “tunneled” vision within a tunnel once again, relates to the theme – “VIA”,” described Toh Koon Theng.

When asked what motivated them to achieve the win, Yap May Xian said: “I was motivated when I saw results of our efforts directly translated into the physical object. I enjoyed every aspect of the booth design even the displays, brochure, presentation board and booklet. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the actual working prototype,” she mused.

She went on to thank the lecturers and laboratory assistants who helped to make this happen. “I sincerely appreciate the lecturers who constantly guided us throughout the competition. They have inspired and educated us in many ways. I would also like to express my gratitude to the laboratory assistants who helped and taught us on the operation of the machinery in the laboratory. Without the help from lecturers, lab assistants and the facilities provided by TAR UC, we would not have achieved this result,” she testified.

Koon Theng gave a blow-by-blow account of the challenges they faced during the competition. “We faced countless number of challenges throughout the process, from pre-fabrication to construction and post-fabrication. The design of the booth was the toughest part of them all. A bad design would grant you nothing at all, even with the best construction or greatest multimedia team. We underwent more than three weeks of brainstorming to reach the finalised design, which left us with only two weeks for actual construction. Another challenge we had was that we were given only three hours to assemble and disassemble the booth in the exhibition hall,” he said.

May Xuan shared some tips to aspiring students who might be considering to take part in this competition in the future. “I would like to advise students to work in a team as every one of us has a different skill set. Although each one of us can execute our part of the project individually, working in a team allows us to tap into the strengths of each member. The other advantage of working in a group is that we would have different opinions about work which help reduce the “tunnel vision” effect. One should learn to accept feedback from each other in order to raise the bar of quality in our work,” she said.

As for the PAM Student Multimedia Competition 2018, Soon Kok Yang, created a video which delivered the message that ‘buildings’ could speak for itself. “Buildings show timeless history and space that fit in their specific timeline. The video also raises awareness in people to look closely, look differently and look up to buildings that surround them,” he said.

The Stick Structure Competition was slightly different in nature. Nicholas Liew Yuung had to complete a mini artwork using materials given, which were bamboo sticks and glue within two and a half hours. “It was not very challenging to create something with bamboo sticks and glue, plus I had a lot of fun doing it,” he added.