NEWS: Design and win a prize

THE Autodesk Design Competition is back for the second year running. Co-organised by the Higher Education Ministry's department of polytechnic and community college education and Design Technology Alliance (M) Sdn Bhd (DTA), the competition is part of Autodesk’s efforts to provide a platform for students to showcase their talents in design.

Sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, the competition aims to get students to learn about engineering and architectural design through a realistic, hands-on, problem-solving experience using the computer as a tool.

The students will also gain new perspectives on how design teams from different disciplines approach a common design problem.

“Autodesk is delighted to run this competition again,” said its Asean regional director, Denis Branthonne, at the launch of the competition held in Putrajaya recently.

“We aim to help students develop real skills in design and engineering,” added Branthonne.

“The competition challenges students to think out of the box,” said department of polytechnic and community college education director-general Datuk Imran Idris, who was also present at the launch.

“This is a positive step and will contribute towards producing world-class design engineering students in Malaysia,” he added.

This year's theme, “Urbanisation in Design”, will see students pitting their skills in two categories – building design and manufacturing design.

In the first category, participants have to design a community centre which incorporates a high-quality, environmental-friendly, groundbreaking design with local traditions, based on a rural development initiative.

Participants submitting entries for the manufacturing design category are required to come up with a design of a playground with educational elements, especially suitable for rural areas.

Prizes worth more than RM70,000 are up for grabs in both categories.

The competition is open to all students in recognised public and private institutions of higher learning.

However, the students must register for the competition before they can submit their entries.

All entries must be previously unpublished and created using Autodesk Products only.

The deadline for submission of entries is April 30.

For details, call Priscilla Choy from DTA (03-7804 1730), or e-mail
marcom@dta.com.my.

You can also visit
www.autodesk.com.my/designcompetition.