The top three teams will have the opportunity to work with a local precast concrete producer to fabricate and install their bench at the location of their choice.
The Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (CPCI) launched the Precast Concrete Wellness Bench Competition for Architectural and Engineering students in October 2021 to all Canadian Universities. Students were invited to submit their projects highlighting the opportunities that precast concrete offers in terms of construction, safety, structural strength, design innovation, social value, maintenance and durability. This year’s theme was on wellness and students had to design a bench using precast concrete while carefully considering the various dimensions of this theme along with the technical understanding of precast concrete systems.
“The jury was impressed with the quality, creativity and ingenuity of all submissions this year and we want to congratulate all of the teams for their hard work and eagerness to learn more about precast concrete as a durable, sustainable, resilient and efficient building material,” says Ariane Sabourin, CPCI’s Communications Manager. The first prize team received $2500 Canadian.
Students from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia submitting the winning entry were Hanna Korn, Chris Suh, Janson Chan and Youssef Abdeldayem. Project supervisors were Brian Lilley, Dalhousie, Architecture Department and Todd Barkhouse, Dalhousie Civil Engineering Department.
The students wrote: “Sprouting out of the ground at Point Pleasant Park Nova Scotia, the Union Bench provides an engaging and unique resting experience for way finders. Our vision is to create a modular bench that promotes wellness through rest, exploration and play. Half-submerged below ground, the bench creates a semi-private nesting experience for young parents to rest while their kids play. The change in elevation encourages young children to explore and interact with the surrounding landscape. The modularity of the bench transcends the design beyond the scope of this project, it encourages the creativity and imagination of others to create their own form of the Union bench. Planters surrounding the bench further enhance your experience with nature by bringing life to the tip of your senses, the smell of blossoming flowers and the touch of gentle spring grass, are all within your grasp. The Union bench provides a safe and comfortable experience that considers the wellness of individuals as well as communities.”
British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Takes Second Place - The Arc Bench
A second place prize went to Adam Janis, Cory Wong, Owen Rains, Suzanne Du, and Tu Anh Le from the British Columbia Institute of Technology for a project call The Arc Bench. They were supervised by Qi Zhang, Civil Engineering Technology and Katie Henderson, Architectural Building Technology and received $1500 Canadian.
Third Place Goes to University of Manitoba for its Entangle Bench
Students from University of Manitoba Raegis Nepomuceno, Ka Long Frank Wong, Kevin Shum, and Jesse Adamson received $1000 for their third place design. The project was supervised by Ehab El-Salakawy, Department of Civil Engineering and Ralph Stern, Department of Architecture.
Honorable Mentions
The following four projects received an honorable mention from the jury
panel who agreed that they were creative and innovative and they appreciated
the opportunity to review all of them. View their posters at the links below:
THE MONTRIVER BENCH
Submitted by: Ziyi Wang (Carleton University), Yiren Zhang (Carleton University)
Fenglin Liu (Carleton University), Yiying Yuan (Carleton University)
THE DADEALLION BENCH
Submitted by: Bill CM Tang (University of Waterloo), Lindsay Lee (McMaster
University), Satvik Bajaj (McMaster University), Seonhyeok Kim (McMaster
University), Xinyu Li (McMaster University)
THE LOTUS BENCH
Submitted by: Diana Youssefian Sahzabi (UBC Okanagan),Josephine Wong (UBC
Okanagan), Fred Mark Caranguian (UBC Okanagan)
THE ETERNITY BENCH
Submitted by: Boyang Yu (McMaster University), Boming Jiang (McMaster University),
Meixi Lin (University of Toronto), Zehua Shuai (McMaster University), Linyu Zhou
(McMaster University)