USM PENANG, 8 Aug 2022 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Architecture students from the School of Housing, Building and Planning (HBP) have done it again!

In the International BIM (Building Information Modelling) Competition held on 20-24 June 2022, HBP Master of Architecture (M.Arch) students won two awards.

Gavin Tio Kang Hui and Muhammad Luqman El Hakim bin Mohd Amran proudly attained the 'Best Modeler Awards' with their intricately designed smart campus, bringing home a total amount of S$400 cash prize.

They were supervised by Dr. Nooriati Taib, with Dr. Mariati Taib and Dr. Nurul Sakina Mokhtar Azizi both playing their roles as mentors.

Themed 'Smart Facilities Management', the competition brief calls for an iconic futuristic university campus sited in Singapore. Each team is to form a group of BIM consultants which comprises of a BIM manager, a BIM coordinator, a BIM modeller, etc. and is tasked to tender this project using the Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) Approach. The scope of work includes Design Modelling, Project BIM implementation and innovation of Smart Facilities Management (SFM) Solutions.

Organised by the National University of Singapore (NUS), College of Design and Engineering (CDE) Department of the Built Environment, the International BIM Competition had attracted a total of 64 university students from prestigious top-ranked universities around the world.

Students who participated in this challenge are able to acquire skills on modelling functions of BIM, as well as to gain insights on the future of facilities management, where it involves computational BIM and robotics.

For the record, USM was represented by two teams and both teams had successfully secured two out of the nine exclusive international awards offered.

HBP students are always encouraged to go beyond classroom interactions by joining competitions locally and abroad to position themselves at the same level with their global counterparts.

With that belief in mind, in July, two architecture students from USM HBP took their initiatives to participate in an international architectural design competition of ‘Nature Inspired Youth Centre’ hosted by ArcAce in Canada.

Yong Ping Ping and Wendy Lau Jia Yee were chosen as first-place winners among all of the international entries.

For their inspiring work, they received a 250 cad cash prize and won a special feature on the official website in ArcAce, Competitions Archi and ArchiDiaries.

They brought a sense of pride and joy to the School of HBP and the University, and also to the nation, as their design entry was the only one from Malaysia among the winning list this time.

Special acknowledgement to the School of Housing, Building and Planning for their commitment and resources in supporting the students throughout the competitions.

Once again, hearty congratulations to all the winners and lecturers on this remarkable achievement!

Editing: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin & Tan Ewe Hoe