Awards galore
Students from the FBE and COFA blitz the nation's design competitions.
Published on the 25 Mar 2008
Success in recent design awards reflects the outstanding calibre of UNSW's design and planning students.
Industrial Design students from the Faculty of the Built Environment (FBE) dominated the Fresh Pre-Packaged Produce section of the Southern Cross Package Design Awards. Dani Thai's Fresh Grapes design was awarded the Gold Medal for the best designed packaging to meet the changing needs of consumers. James Morton was awarded the bronze medal for his Pod 2 Go design, and Kristina Zlomislic received a commendation for her Choose Fresh design.
Four FBE students were chosen as finalists in the Australian Design Awards Dyson Student Award, the most of any University.
The projects selected were D:Scribe, Reuben Png's digital fountain pen that allows users to send SMS and email messages from paper; Sharpsafe, Alicia Mintzes's community needle disposal bin that improves safety, security and perception; eVent, David Wawrzonek's emergency ventilator for motorcycle paramedics; and Nick Notara's collapsible surfboard that breaks into two pieces for ease of transport.
UNSW students are also well represented in the Object Gallery's annual national graduate exhibition, Design Now! FBE student Gabi Parke's system to preserve and enhance the biodiversity of the landscape in Penrith will be exhibited alongside COFA students Sian Power's narrative wallpapers, FeiFei Feng's conceptual game that explores housing and communal space, and Hiro (Chao-Jung) Lai's furniture designs using traditional basketry techniques.
PhD student Xu Ting, was recently awarded the best paper award at the 14th Pacific Rim Real Estate Conference in Malaysia for her research into the residential structure of Shenzhen, China.