SIX top bench designs by students have been selected to be used for MRT underground stations after they emerged as top winners of the MRT Project Bench Design Competition.

The competition was jointly organised by Malaysia Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) and MMC Gamuda KVMRT (T) Sdn Bhd (MGKT), the Underground work package contractor for MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line.

The six winners were announced in a prize giving ceremony on 26 February 2016 at the KVMRT Training Centre, Sungai Buloh.

The main objective of this competition is to encourage student participation for the design of benches for platforms in the seven Underground Stations by tapping into a pool of young creative talents that will provide designs that are aesthetic, original and innovative.

The prize giving ceremony was the climax of the competition which kick-started in April 2015 with a call for participation for students in July 2015, and a public voting period from 9 until 31 January 2016.

It was opened to students from local universities in design based courses where a total of 133 designs from 19 institutions were submitted which were then assessed by 14 judges comprised of both industry experts and the Senior Management team from MRT Corp and MGKT.

Six outstanding designs were chosen to be winners. The winners are:

1. Mohd Saiful Anuar bin Zamri from Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah for Muzium Negara Station

2. Chong Chin Sheng from Erican College for Merdeka Station

3. Chan Lee Kang from Universiti Sains Malaysia for Pasar Seni Station

4. Lee Ling from Erican College for TRX Station

5. Siti Nur Hajar binti Kamsani from UiTM Seri Iskandar for Cochrane Station

6. Chia Sen Chung from Saito College for Maluri Station

There was no winning entry for Bukit Bintang Station since no design was able to satisfy completely the winning criteria.

The top six winners earned RM7000.00 and a certificate respectively while the rest of the 15 designs collected RM3500.00 and a certificate each.

Mr Marcus Karakashian, MRT Corp’s Project Director for the SBK Line presented the prizes to the winners. MGKT Director Encik Maslan Othman and other members of the Leadership Teams of MRT Corp and MGKT were also present to witness the ceremony.

“We were looking for winning entries that combine uniqueness with good, purposeful designs for the KVMRT underground station benches and we are pleased to have found the right designs for the stations,” he said.

He said while the designs were very creative incorporating state-of-the art architecture, many of them lost marks on the functionality aspect. “The winning designs will need to be adapted for production with engineering components added to make the benches also safe and tough for heavy use while being functional,” he added.

Meanwhile, Maslan said it was decided that a competition like this would provide the motivation for talents to come up with designs and it was all about doing things with a difference. “Just imagine the pride each winner or the winning group will carry each time they visit the station where their entry sits in the form of benches, serving the public,” he said.

This is the first time in Malaysia where students were able to directly get involved in designing an element of a major infrastructure project.