In an awards ceremony held virtually this Tuesday (22), the team from plasma space announced the winning proposal of the "Parklet no Plasma" competition, which selected an architectural project, developed by undergraduate students from any university, for the installation of a parklet for university coexistence in front of the warehouse where the new Plasma Space will be installed. The winning team is made up of five Unicamp students studying Architecture and Urbanism and Electrical Engineering. In addition to seeing their project being built on site, the winners received a R$500 voucher worth books from Editora Unicamp as a prize.
The ION Parklet, winner of the competition, has benches and tables for living and working, accessibility features and parking spaces for bicycles and motorbikes. Following the tender requirements, the project also foresees the installation of 18 panels to generate photovoltaic energy on the roof. All of these structures will be built in an area measuring 16,4 m long by 5,4 m wide in front of Espaço Plasma. The project was created by students Leonardo Botene, Leonardo Carlin, Mateus Paulichen and Thiago Keltke, from the Architecture and Urban Planning course at Unicamp, and by Gildo Rodrigues, from the Electrical Engineering course at Unicamp.
In addition to Parklet ION, seven other projects were finalists in the selection. The proposals from students Gabriel Faria (Arq. Urb. - PUCCAMP), Laura Luvizotto (Eng. Civil - Unicamp) and Ricardo Costa Pinto (Arq. Urb. - IAU USP) and students Alessandro Bezerra (Eng. Amb. - USP) , Clara Machado, Ingrid Nunes, Mateus Rocha and Rebeca Moraes (Arq. Urb. - Unicamp) were both classified in second place. The other five projects received honorable mentions. In total, the competition received 21 projects from 89 participants, bringing together students from 15 universities across the country, from 13 different courses.
"It was actually very difficult to choose because, in addition to the boards, the candidates had to present a memorial and also demonstrate concern about the electrical project. One of the premises of the competition is that the parklet should incorporate photovoltaic panels. So it was a very difficult project and which required interdisciplinarity, both from a social, aesthetic, functional and electrical design point of view. The result was much better than we could imagine", celebrated Gabriela Celani, professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism (FEC) from Unicamp and advisor to the dean Marcelo Knobel, creator of Plasma.
From students to students
The project to create Espaço Plasma aims to offer University students a space where spontaneous projects can be developed, regardless of whether they are directly related to undergraduate and postgraduate courses, research or university extension projects. To this end, the location will have a coworking space, maker laboratory, video and podcast recording studio and common areas. Discussions to create the project have been taking place since 2018 and, this year, the renovation of the old plasma laboratory at the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics (IFGW) to house the new Plasma Space began in March.
Since the beginning, students have been actively participating in the development of the space through meetings open to all courses and initiatives such as the project competition for the construction of the parklet. Present at the virtual awards ceremony, Unicamp's Undergraduate and Postgraduate Deans assessed that holding the competition shows the project's potential in promoting innovation and interdisciplinarity within and outside the University.
"This competition clearly shows the spirit of Plasma. A place where people have the freedom to create, the students are the owners of this place. That was our intention, for people to take care of it, for it to be their place", he commented Nancy Lopes Garcia, dean of Postgraduate Studies. For Eliana Amaral, dean of Undergraduate Studies, the involvement of students from different universities is something that should be encouraged in new projects: "Plasma is a great experience for the students involved and a great inspiration for similar things to happen in other spaces inside and outside the university".
Check out all competing projects on the website plasma space.
