Reported by: Sun Rui
Photographed by: Ji Xing, Liu Yang
Translated by: Han Jie
Edited by: Garrick Jones
Date: June 6, 2017
Only 8 hours to build a building? Yes, that’s true! It happened in HIT. On June 4, 36 buildings made of corrugated paper rose straight from the ground! In the Eighth Construction Festival of Harbin Institute of Technology and 2017 “Urban Nomad” Cardboard Building Design and Construction Competition, 36 teams from School of Architecture and School of Civil Engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology, and universities like Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Jilin Jianzhu University, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Northeast Forestry University , and high schools like Harbin NO.1 Senior High School, Harbin NO.3 Senior High School, Harbin NO.6 Senior High School, Harbin NO.9 Senior High School, Harbin Normal University High School, Heilongjiang Experimental High School and Daqing Experimental Middle School together lit up a technical and visually artistic feast.
They fall to sleep with the stars in their dreams, and wake up with the dawn. Every building shows its own builder's story. The stories behind the 8 hours of the building are several days and nights of effort. Starting from the design program, participants continued to study the various structural systems: Shell, ribs and beams and try a variety of construction methods: Plug, splicing, riveting and so on. They tried to build over and over again and repeatedly went over the shape and refine the details; in failures over and over again, they sort out from the beginning and clarify the logistics ......
“Accuracy & Proficiency” is our school motto. With the full preparation of the early stage, 36 teams all had an ace up their sleeves. They used spatial forms to challenge the gravity; or set the delicate joints to build a dynamic shape. Participants worked together in close cooperation. Utility knives and scissors in their hands were drawn to a beautiful track, and the thin corrugated board intersected and surrounded to a small world. After the competition, the School of Architecture of Harbin Institute of Technology whose work is called “Butterfly Locked in the Waning” and “An Mu Habitat” from Inner Mongolia University of Technology won the first prize in the university group. Harbin NO.6 Senior High School “Nomadic Reading Pavilion” won the first prize of the high school group.
The building scene was crowded with students and teachers of HIT and citizens who come here especially. Many people asked participants about the design ideas, and the team members explained enthusiastically. The construction was not yet completed, and many of the children were waiting. When the work was done, they walked through the middle of these creative and marvelous buildings...
