School of Design has successfully held FourC Challenge "ReVive”Dean's Forum and Award Ceremony
On 6th June 2021, FourC Challenge “ReVive” Dean's Forum and Award Ceremony successfully held at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre, which marks the end of the FourC Challenge.
This is the first ever time that Design Shanghai collaborate with academic institutions in China. Deans and academic leaders from Tongji University, Hunan University, Xi’an Jiaotong - Liverpool University, Southern University of Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Royal Institute of British Architects, the Architectural Society of Shanghai China, SJTU International Affairs Division and other representatives from respective institutes attend the event. Students from the winning teams of the contest all over China were invited to visit Design Shanghai exhibitions and receive awards as well. The event conveyed the idea of holding FourC Challenge Design Contest to the public, and displayed award-winning designs of this year and last year through video, showing contemporary students’ impact of design.
The FourC Challenge 24-hour Design Charrette was successfully held online by Shanghai Jiao Tong School of Design on 29th to 30th May, 2021. Nearly three hundred students from domestic and abroad joined remotely. By the theme of Flow. they were asked to provide solutions to the post-pandemic world. Through ideas and design products, the aim of this year’s contest is to find designed ways to heal people's mind, embrace empathy and respect, and of more importance revive peoples’ health and spirit in the post-epidemic era. We firmly believe that the power of design can help promote the rehabilitation and enhance resilience of human society. After two rounds of professional reviewing by academics from more than twenty global design schools, twelve outstanding works entered into the finalist, and has been awarded Winning Prize, Second Prize, First Prize, Grand Prize and the Most Popular Work.
“ReVive” Dean's Forum
ReVive Dean’s Forum was held at the presentation zone of Design Shanghai on the morning of 6th June. The forum was hosted by RUAN Xing, the Dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong School of Design. LOU Yongqi, Vice President of Tongji University and Dean and Professor of the College of Design and Innovation, HE Renke, Dean and Professor of Hunan University School of Design, ZHENG Xi, Vice Dean and Professor of Beijing Forestry University School of Landscape Architecture, Thomas KVAN, Dean and Professor of Southern University of Science and Technology School of Design, Konstantinos PAPADIKIS, Dean and Senior Associate Professor of Xi'an Jiaotong - Liverpool University Design School were invited as the forum guests. The forum brought the topic of “Revive and Rehabilitation” to the table, and focus on the major challenges and changes faced by design education in the context of the post-epidemic era.
Award ceremony
The following ceremony revealed the twelve teams awarded Winning Prize, Second Prize, First Prize, Grand Prize and the Most Popular Work. Lou Yongqi, Thomas Kvan, He Renke, Konstantinos Papadikis, Zheng Xi, Ruan Xing with other guests handed the prizes.
LIU Xinyu from China Academy of Art, CHEN Hailing from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, JIANG Xinyi from Beijing Forestry University and LIU Han from Shanghai Jiao Tong University made Team12-【Fluxion】the Grand Prize winner of this year’s FourC Challenge design contest.
Since the outbreak of COVID19, cinemas have had a hard time recovering their business, and people missed the experience of movies in cinemas. Thus, Team 12 invented Fluxion based on post-pandemic movie-watching experience, which is a social app Fluxion with outdoor movie squares. Ilaria Valente, Dean of School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano highly commended this design. She said that this work combined technology with physical space through digital interaction, and created a new form of public space for people in the post-pandemic days.
Team 34’s Cycle Flow designed by Tse Pui Hei from Hong Kong University, SUN Xuepeng from Southwest Jiaotong University, YU Dikai from Hunan University, SI Keting from Shanghai University, MAI Qiuyu from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Team 52’s Zero designed by LU Yi from Shanghai University, CHU Lifang from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, WANG Shuchen from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, HUANG Rui from Harbin Institute of Technology won the First Prize of the contest.
Team 34’s Cycle Flow brings views and subways together by supposing a more comfortable railway system, which enables passengers to exchange information and energy with people and nature while flowing in the tubes. Luke Hespanhol, Lecturer of University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning commented that this team brought an interesting idea, combining green eco-space with subways, making people’s routine boring for no more.
Team 52’s Zero depicted a set of exercising devices of a future community, including five interaction devices, seats and displaying screens. Such equipment can involve more people into fitness training and community interaction, and eventually enhance the emotional bond between people and nature. Martha Thorne, Professor and Dean of IE University School of Architecture and Design thought that this design provided a mature and practical new idea for urban public space development, and could effectively improve residents’ health, form a positive social environment.
Team 13’s Connect+, designed by BAI Xinyu rom Imperial College London, TANG Meijie from Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, FENG Jie from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Rachel Tan Yu Jie from National University of Singapore, and Team 16’s THE URBAN INTERIOR, designed by Nicolò Chierichetti, from Politecnico di Milano, Chong Man Yee from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, LUO Mei from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, WU Meng from Shanghai Jiao Tong University were awarded Second Prize.
Team 13’s Connect+ is a multi-functioned urban modular vehicle system, able to expand spaces and connect, or provide communities with health service in decentralized modes. In sudden public incidents such as disease outbreaks, they can work centralized in temporary open spaces for emergency service. In usual days they can be used for recreation, such as vending machines or karaoke stations. Scott Chin from School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University was impressed by this design, and suggested that this program would be able to provide better medical service during pandemics.
Team 16 took indoor space as the metaphor of public space, and created a prototype to suit various environments and needs, to make residents gather more safely, which depends on modular designing and customize designing. Ilaria Valente commented that this design can change spaces in a humanized way, creating new connections between people and spaces.
People may face all kinds of pressure during quarantine, and for pet owners, isolation with their pets may be a good way to gain sense of secure for both sides, and combat negative emotions. Team 43’ WAVES proposed pets and owners’ isolation spaces under hygiene restrictions, and by touch-fee interaction designs, people can cure their anxiety and loneliness with their pets’ companion.
Besides, Team10, Team22, Team25, Team26, Team39 and Team40 earned 2021 FourC Challenge Winning Prize, and Team16 was elected the Most Popular Work by many participants.
Team 10’s AirHealth: Flowing like the wind, designed by:Greta Weber from Politecnico di Milano, Jonathan Lau from National University of Singapore, REN Ruomeng from Tsinghua University, PAN Xianjie from Huazhong Agricultural University, YAO Chang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Team 22’s Flow Cocklebur, designed by CHEN Zhuofan from McGill University, ZHANG Wenjun from Korean University, JIANG Kaiqi from Zhejiang University, SU Rina from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Team 25’s Reviving Currents - Post-Pandemic Mini Expo, designed byWANG Junmei from Politecnico di Milano, PAN Changwei from Southeast University, SHEN Zihan from Beijing Forestry University, Tongrui Yang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Team 26’s Flow VEH, designed by:LI Yangfangzheng from Imperial College London, MAI Hao from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, PU Qianer from Chongqing University, LIU Sichen from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, WANG Zenghou from Wuhan Institute Of Technology, ZHAO Xinyu from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Team 39’s Modular Mobile Vaccination Station, designed by:LIANG Tailin from National University of Singapore, LIU Naixin from Hunan University, HUANG Xing from Tongji University, LUO Tianlun from Sun Yat-sen University, WANG Jiayun from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Team 40’s Cloudlets, design by:Leung Chun Fai Anson from Hong Kong University, WAN Haoyu from Southwest Jiaotong University, LI Yuzhu from Guangdong University of Technology, LI Shubin from Shanghai Normal University, ZHANG Jindian from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Then the FourC Challenge 24-hour Design Contest has successfully came to an end. After over a hundred days of preparation, FourC Challenge overcame the objection of space for the second time, united the innovative power of design, and provoked modern young designers’ thinking of the resilient recovery of the society. During the four days at Design Shanghai 2021 Exhibition, Shanghai Jiao Tong University was the only exhibitor as an academic institute which showed excellent outcome of FourC Challenge to the public, expressed the voices from the academy, presented the power of a brand new designing generation, attracting thousands of visitors to stop by.
Finally ZHANG Zhan, the curator of FourC Challenge, Associate Head of Department of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong School of Design implied, how to improve live by design, is the ultimate meaning that design students seek for. FourC Challenge 24-hour Design Contest advocates students pay attention to the developmental trends of human society, create innovative ideas in practice, and pursue optimal designs for solving real life problems. At the same time, they must show the courage to disrupt and subvert in order to create work with social and industrial value. By combining theory and practice, they can lay the groundwork for a sustainable, healthy, and beautiful living environment.
86,400 seconds, 1,440 minutes, 24 hours, can be an ordinary day or a day full of creativity and passion. Shanghai Jiao Tong School of Design will link up with well-known universities through the format of this online design contest. Working with teammates of different nationalities and backgrounds, during this 24-hour period each team will bring a unique perspective, and aim to explore and solve social problems, as well as propose innovative, forward-looking and practical design solutions that rest on a solid scientific footing.
FourC Challenge is not merely a competition, but also a global platform of design to communicate and deepen cross-cultural understanding. In this 24 hours of mutual learning, we hope that students can meet new friends and widen their vision, collaborate with each other, and promote a more resilient recovery spirit to the world through the power of design. In the future, FourC Challenge welcomes more design colleges and universities from all parts of the world to actively participate, joint organize and become a member of Create, Connect, Communicate and Collaborate.
