KEY POINTS:
Four Auckland University students have caused a major shake-up by taking out a prestigious international engineering competition.
The team of civil engineering students became the first non-Taiwanese entrants to win the Ideers Earthquake Engineering Design Competition in Taipei.
Dmytro Dizhur, John O'Hagen, Rohann Da Silva and Ronald Lumantarna were given six-and-a-half hours to construct a three-storey building using only wood, paper, glue, string and rubber bands.
Strength and efficency were key, with the buildings subjected to increasingly severe "earthquakes" on a shaking table.
Quincy Ma from the Earthquake Engineering Research Group said the win "confirms New Zealand's and The University of Auckland's strength in earthquake engineering education.
"The best designs demonstrate an advanced understanding of the principles of seismic design, structural dynamics and structural mechanics, all taught as part of an engineering degree."
The team was sponsored by the Earthquake Commission New Zealand, as a gesture of support for earthquake research in New Zealand.
- NZPA
