Team Kobayashi, consisting of Architectural Design and other students of Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology, have won the Presentation Award at Passionate & Advanced Mission-E: Space Architecture Project, an engineering contest held on March 24 and sponsored by Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd. They also finished second overall in the contest.
Passionate & Advanced Mission-E is a science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics-focused next-generation development project sponsored by Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd. The program provides middle and high school students with the experience of solving problems independently using engineering methods while learning the required knowledge and approaches to take on challenges from engineers currently active in the field.
Designing 2030 Winter Olympics stadium
As was the case in academic year 2021, , the theme of this year’s Space Architecture Project was the creation of the Winter Olympics stadium for 2030. A total of five school teams joined the contest with the goal of designing the main 2030 Olympic venue, which would have to house, among other components, a double ice-skating track. The teams were also asked to produce a 1/100 scale structural model of their creation and give a final presentation on their work.
Team Kobayashi experienced various difficulties after the contest began with the opening ceremony in July 2023. However, with the help of Nippon Steel Engineering mentors and Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology alumni who won the contest in two years ago, the team overcame these challenges and successfully completed the demanding project over an eight-month period.
During the final presentations, the participating teams explained the features of their “Teine Star Cap Arena,” the Olympic stadium they had envisioned, their approach to the building of the structural model, any building and environmental considerations required during actual construction, and their plans for the use of the facility after the Olympics. They also put their structural models through a load test.
Team Kobayashi finished first in the load test with a result of 30 kgf and demonstrated the best cost performance, which was measured in terms of load capacity in relation to materials costs. In overall points, which were tallied according to presentation, load capacity, and cost performance, Team Kobayashi finished second.
On the final day, members of Team Takebayashi, the Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology Team who won the contest in academic year 2021, also joined the event. In addition to interacting with engineers and judges, they gave a presentation on their efforts during the previous contest and their activities after graduation from the high school.
Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology, the only national high school of science and technology in Japan, promotes cooperative learning with Tokyo Tech and focuses on early education in specialized fields of science and engineering.