On the afternoon of April 12th, 2024, in the Jingjian Lecture Hall of School of Architecture Tianjin University, the kick-off meeting of 2024 Delta Cup International Solar Architecture Design Competition and the award presentation for 2023 were successfully held. Guests including competition jury experts, teachers and students teams from various universities and the media attended the event , nearly two hundred in total. Participating experts and prospective teams interacted warmly at the site. The event was co-sponsored by the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), the Central Research Institute of China Construction Science and Technology Group (CRIC), and the China Academy of Building Design and Research Institute (CABRI). It was organized by the National Engineering Research Center for Housing and Living Environment (NERCHLEI) and School of Architecture, TJU, with Delta Group as the sponsor.
Guests' Opening Speech
Prof. Hu Wenping, Vice President of Tianjin University, expressed in his speech that Tianjin University, as an important proponent of the National Action Plan for New Engineering Education, has always been committed to promoting programs for cross-border fusion, integration and sharing, and systematic innovation, which is highly compatible with the concepts of Delta Cup International Solar Architecture Design Competition. Tianjin University has been carrying out solar architecture practice since the 1970s, and has won many awards in this field, cultivating a large number of top-tier talents in the field of low-carbon architecture, promoting innovation and practice in the industry-education integration process. The competition was not only an academic feast, but also an event for exchanging ideas, with the wish of expanding the space for cooperation and exchange through it, and bringing new vitality into the cultivation of talents.
Vice President of TJU, Prof. Hu Wenping Giving Speech
Cui Kai (Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, national master of engineering survey and design, chief scientist of China Construction Science and Technology Group, and head of Delta Cup International Solar Architecture Design Competition Judging Expert Group) delivered a speech, honoring Delta Cup Competition as a high-level international competition, and that industry expert judges from all over the world and high-level participating teams had made the competition more like an academic battle and communication. Especially with Delta's support, many awarded projects had been landed one after another, serving urban and rural construction in actual, which enhances the attractiveness of the competition more. It was not only a platform for academic exchange and communication, but also an important carrier to promote the development of green building. He expected that more excellent design works will emerge in the competition, injecting new motivation for the development of green buildings. A public lecture was also held after the launching ceremony centered on the theme of “Scientific and technological innovation promotes original design”, and through large number of project cases demonstrated the all-round improvement in architectural design from the innovative application of scientific and technological technology.
Academia Cui Giving Speech
Liu Zhihong (Vice President of China Construction Science and Technology Group Corporation), Ms. Shanshan Guo (Delta's Chief Brand Officer), and Prof. Song Kun (Secretary of the CPC Committee and Executive Vice Dean of the School of Architecture of Tianjin University), Mr. Jing Quan (Deputy General Manager of China Academy of Architectural Design and Research Institute) also gave welcoming speeches.
2024 Kick-off Meeting & 2023 Awards Presentation
The Delta Cup International Solar Architecture Design Competition, as a brand event themed “Renewable Energy Building Application”, was started in 2006 and has been successfully held for 12 sessions so far, with more than 10,000 teams from all over the world participating in, and received 2,254 valid entries, including the topics like the construction of new rural areas, beautiful villages and city houses, as well as the renovation of buildings, sunny elementary school, suitable buildings for the elderly, kindergartens, scientific expedition stations and so on, all reflecting the actual needs of the society and people's livelihoods.
Experts from the jury presented awards to the winning teams of 2023. The theme of last year's competition was “Sunshine - Zero Carbon Buildings”, and the two projects included: Zero Carbon Design - Culture and Technology Museum of Guangzhou Science and Education City, and Zero Carbon Enhancement - Community Complex Building of Guangzhou Institute of Public Utilities Technicians. Both the two first-prize winning teams are from Tianjin University.
First-Prize Awarded Works
After the award presentation, the 2024 Delta Cup International Solar Architecture Design Competition was officially launched.
“Inject new vitality into rural revitalization and provide new ideas for rural infrastructure construction.” Zeng Yan, deputy chief architect of the National Engineering Research Center for Housing and Living Environment, introduced that the topic competition was set in the countryside of Hebei Province, implementing the spirit of the “14th Five-Year” National Comprehensive Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Plan, and focusing on how to build resilient village and township infrastructures and enhance the capacity of disaster prevention and mitigation in countryside, with a focus on the planning of villages and townships. It focuses on the planning, building structure, public facilities, ecological environment and green energy technology of villages and towns. It is expected that the works of this competition will contribute to the construction of resilient village and town infrastructures and the promotion of sustainable development in villages and towns.
Public Course by Academia Cui
Academician Cui Kai introduced the Local Quarterly Exhibition with the theme of science and technology innovation to promote original design, emphasizing the application of science and technology in design.
In the first season, “Jiangsu Garden Expo Main Pavilion”, the design adopts the design strategy of “light intervention”. Relying on the diversified industrial architectural remains and rich elevation differences within the site, a light modern exhibition hall cluster is realized by the slim steel assembly system , so that the green art garden diffuses and lingers between the coarse industrial factories, and the green space bridges the damage caused by industrial production to the mountains and nature. The second season, “Concrete Fun”, presents the “concrete fun” of concrete's ever-changing shapes, as well as the “children fun” of their playfulness.The third season “Weaving & Stitching” presents the urban renewal background, the project above ground and underground space, large space and small space, new buildings and old buildings between the interface. The fourth season of Guangzhou Pazhou Fangshou Building, with the designing concept of“weaving” to achieve a high degree of unity of the architectural structure, curtain wall system and spatial logic.
The fifth season of Eco-Wood Work covers the main directions of the creation of the local design research center in recent years like lightweight construction, eco-woodwork, concrete construction and green design and so on, aiming at inheriting and carrying forward the green, innovative and human-centered design strategies and values of local design. Season 6 “Tribute to School of Urban Design Wuhan University” On the condition of space and cost, this story-telling design school is left with a workshop and a paradise that accommodates various creative teaching activities. The seventh season, “Lightweight Construction”, explores the real and long-lasting beauty of architecture by reducing the amount of building materials and realizing carbon reduction. The eighth season themed “Street”, hope that when architects conceive of buildings in the future, they will take “street” as one of the design themes for the spaces where people interact with each other.
