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Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture ( WBiA ) students in the final of The Trail by Vinci Construction challenge. 17.07.2018 12:37

In the summer semester, students of WBiA took part in an international challenge announced by the French company Vinci Construkction, with coordination of regional stages by cooperating companies - in Poland by Warbud SA

The aim of the challenge was to develope a conceptual design in one of the competition categories: The construction site of the future, Sustainable construction and resilience, Cities above and under cities.

The team: Andrzej Chuchra (Architecture and Urban Planning, S2), Daniel Felczak (Civil Engineering, S2), Krzysztof Wojciechowski (Civil Engineering, S2) and Szymon Żabkiewicz (Civil Engineering, S2), developed the project "Floating Garden Poland" referring directly to Szczecin’s specific conditions, related to the maritime industry of which more than half of the surface are water reservoirs and green areas. The team, in the Sustainable construction category, proposed a solution based on the 4R principle: including the use of used shipping containers (Reuse) for the implementation of small residential units with a high energy standard (Reduce), their energy supply using renewable energy sources (Renewable) - solar panels and a water-based heat pump using water-salt phase transformation - reducing the environmental impact of the designed objects (Reduce). It was also planned to treat gray water in the built-in small wastewater treatment plant (Recycle). Project was carried out under the supervision of PhD., Eng., Arch. Karolina Kurtz-Orecka and in issues related to the installation of a small wastewater treatment plant consulted with Phd., D.Sc., Eng. Anna Głowacka, Assistant Professor, and water heat pump - with PhD.,  Wojciech Tuchowski.

On April 18 this year, at the headquarters of Warbud SA in Warsaw, a regional final took place where the ideas of the teams were presented. The projects were subject to a reassessment in which the WBiA team obtained the highest score, thus qualifying for the world finals from the region of Poland. The global final of The Trial by Vinci Construction challenge took place on May 17 and 18 this year in Paris and Ance in France. It was attended by 14 teams from around the world, including 5 from France, 2 from Africa and one from England, Czech Republic, Poland, Asia, Oceania (Australia), North America (Canada) and Latin America (Colombia). On the first day, in the Innovation Laboratory of Vinci in Paris, the projects were presented, and on the second day, after the trip to Ance, sports competitions were organized. Szczecin Team turned out to be unmatched in the competition of building and swimming a raft and mountain biking, finishing on the 2nd place in sports competitions. In the main competition, 1st and 3rd place went to the French teams and 2 to the Nigerian team.

The challenge of the WBiA team was accompanied by two supervisors - PhD., Eng., Arch. Karolina Kurtz-Orecka and M.Sc, Eng. Szymon Skibicki.

Karolina Kurtz-Orecka