The 2^nd "Sunty Architecture Award" held its official closure days ago. The Award attracted nine teams from the different graduate schools of architecture to contend for championship. The purpose of the Award was to foster future architectural talents and to promote convergence among university/industry and government.

The "Sunty Architecture Award" was established by Sunty Development Inc., Ltd., and geared toward students of architecture and related fields. Its curriculum covered every practical facet of the architecture industry, and ran the gamut from land development, product positioning, construction engineering, to marketing and planning. To make the competitors better understand the practical operations of the architectural business, Sunty Development Inc., even took the contestants to construction sites and reception centers for field studies. For this years' Award, Sunty Development Inc. went one step further to collaborate with the Department of Urban Planning of Taipei city, the Department of Urban and Rural Planning of Taipei County, and the Architecture and Building Research Institute of the Ministry of the Interior.

Sunty Development Inc., has held the "Sunty Architecture Award" for two consecutive years. As an award that integrates innovation and practical feasibility, the procedures are divided into two phases: "study camp" and "simulation tests." All students who participated in the contest had to undertake four days' intensive training courses before they could be allowed to enter the second phase and receive topics of simulation tests. Once they entered upon the 2^nd phase, their participation in the contest became officially sanctioned.

Altogether 12 teams participated in this year's competition for the Award. After a full month's repeated contemplation, discussion, and planning, all teams vied to come up with a construction project that has the highest development potentials. But in the end, the team from NTU's Graduate Institute of Building and Planning won the championship prize. The winning team, called "The Heart of Architecture," was composed of three sophomore students from the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning and one freshman student from the same institute. NTU's Graduate Institute has always been known for its strength in theory, but what surprised everyone was that the students' report clearly demonstrated meticulous and clear thinking logic, and was a piece of work with very high feasibilities. Their future performance in the construction business is something that everyone can look forward to.

"Sunty Architecture Award" is Sunty Development Inc.'s way to contribute to society. Its purpose, in addition to providing curriculum to graduate students, is to make the contestants better understand the construction industry, allow them an opportunity to expand their vision, and encourage them to combine practical concerns with their innovative planning. In sum, the Award was set up to promote convergence between university/industry, and to foster a new generation of all rounded talents for the construction investment business.