Tokyo Institute of Technology: Students of Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology win company-sponsored architecture contest
Architectural Design students of Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology (Tokyo Tech High School) scored a double victory at Passionate & Advanced Mission-E: Space Architecture Project, an engineering contest held on March 27 and sponsored by Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd. The team secured both overall victory and the technical award at the event.
Passionate & Advanced Mission-E
Passionate & Advanced Mission-E is a next-generation development project sponsored by Nittetsu Engineering Co., Ltd. The program is designed to provide middle and high school students with the experience of solving problems independently using engineering methods while learning the required knowledge and approaches to take on challenges from engineers currently active in the field. The project currently includes the Energy Island Project, the Space Architecture Project, and the Ecology Plant Project.
The Space Architecture Project: Build the 2030 Winter Olympics stadium
The theme of this year’s Space Architecture Project was the creation of the Winter Olympics stadium for 2030. A total of five school teams joined the contest, attempting to design a spatially enormous building that utilizes a three-dimensional truss. They were also asked to produce a 1/100 scale structural model.
This project kicked off in July 2021, when contest participants were appointed during a ceremony, but various restrictions due to COVID-19 hampered activities for the next eight months. Engineers’ school visits were moved online, and the midterm project event in November was scaled back. During this period, however, the students of Tokyo Tech High School continued to work on the stadium design while receiving advice from a number of Nittetsu Engineering employees who are also Tokyo Tech alumni.
Team preparing their winning concept at school
Team preparing their winning concept at schoolCreating prototypes through trial and error
Creating prototypes through trial and error
During the finals, teams had to present not only their Olympic stadium design, but also participate in load testing using their large structural model, which was built together with other Architectural Design students who were not members of the team. Tokyo Tech High School did not win the presentation award, but they won the technical award for outstanding cost performance, meaning load capacity in relation to materials costs, and they took overall first place for their combined presentation, load capacity, and cost performance efforts.
Tokyo Tech High School, which is the only national high school of science and technology in Japan, promotes cooperative learning with Tokyo Tech and focuses on early education in specialized fields of science and engineering. The high school team’s presentation, structural design, and ingenuity during construction were all highly evaluated during this competition, not only by judges but also by students from other schools. As a result of the unique characteristics and continued support for one another within the broader Tokyo Tech community, the students of Tokyo Tech High School produced another one-of-a-kind creation that earned them this victory.
Yuma Takebayashi, 3rd year, Architectural Design
Ukyo Ayabe, 3rd year, Architectural Design
Ryusuke Tomabechi, 3rd year, Architectural Design
Takeru Mukai, 3rd year, Architectural Design
Kai Uchiyama, 3rd year, Architectural Design