ETSAB students win Shanghai construction festival

Six first-year students from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) have won first prize at the Tongji International Construction Festival in Shanghai, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) announced on 23 June.

The award gives ETSAB, part of Barcelona's public technical university, international recognition for work by first-year students. Their project was selected from a festival involving more than 230 students and professors from Asia, Europe and the United States, who built 33 pavilions.

The students travelled to Shanghai from 1 to 7 June to design and construct Shellter: Homes that Grow with Us, supervised by Albert Valero of UPC's Department of Urbanism, Territory and Landscape.

Six ETSAB students built the winning pavilion

The team comprised:

Ingrid Bassas
Neo Dufraisse
Zhenjie Lin
Roger Llobera
Neus Torras
Rita Asunción

Festival entrants were asked to rethink the concept of home, considering safety, environmental impact, building processes and the integration of artificial intelligence into everyday life.

Each team had to make a small pavilion from corrugated cardboard and bamboo rods. ETSAB's structure used organic forms and a snail-like shape to examine the distinction between a house and a home, presenting home as a place connected to memory, emotion and personal growth.

Tongji festival challenge focused on housing ideas

The Tongji International Construction Festival is organised by the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University. According to UPC, its purpose is to develop students' creative and innovative design skills.

UPC said the winning pavilion represented home both as a transition from childhood to adulthood and as an intimate emotional shelter.

Primary sources: upc.edu, UH News, Author Stephen Luoni. Reported by caup.tongji.edu.cn.