Unitech student wins award

Normal, Youth & Careers

A FINAL year student from the architecture and building department had been awarded the Alexander & Lloyd Group Student Award during the annual AkzoNobel PNG Institute of Architects (PNGIA) Design Awards held on Aug 22 in Port Moresby.
Patrick Poabi’s design for a new Unitech student centre was chosen as the winning entrant under the student category by the judging panel.
It showed an appreciation for the diversity of Melanesian culture and made a strong attempt to combine this with an expressive modern architectural language.
Mr Poabi received his award of a plaque and a K500 cheque from the head of architecture and building department Prof Rahim Milani.
Mr Poabi said that the award would motivate him to create more designs when he entered the workforce next year.
Whilst presenting the award, Prof Milani said Unitech students and graduates now dominated the industry due to the fact that the course placed emphasis on architectural design based on traditional PNG homes, culture, and climate.
He said he was proud that Unitech students were making a positive impact in the field in PNG.
This is the second time that the student award has been given to a Unitech student, the first was in 2007.
A former student Eugene Kapari, took out the PNGIA Presentation Award for his design of the new Wewak Airport.
This project was done as part of his thesis last year, and the speculative scheme was well thought out and carefully presented over 12 large sheets.
Prof Milani explained that this category accepted submissions of designs from across a wide spectrum of the profession, including work done by students.
And the fact that a student’s work was chosen amongst the work of professionals already in the field shows the quality of work done by Unitech students and the department’s endeavour to produce quality graduates.
Prof Milani, is also the vice-president of PNGIA and chairman of the PNG board of architects registration, however, he did not take part in judging the entries to avoid a conflict of interestbecause his students’ works were submitted.
Designs are first scrutinised by staff, before submissions are made to PNGIA.
The architecture and building department offers three-year diploma and five-year degree programmes.