OzU Represents Turkey in the Seismic Design Competition

Özyeğin University Civil Engineering and Architecture students participated in the Seismic Design Competition organized by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute as the only team representing Turkey.Our Civil Engineering students Fatmanur Şahin, Feyza Nur Şahan, Ensar Ünal, Muhammet Enes Alkış, Erhan Çekin, and Yıldıray Yılmaz, and our Architecture students Benson Eusebio Sanga, Gökçe Tomrukçu, Gizem Avgan, and Dilara Çağlayan prepared for the competition which took place in San Diego, the US, under the mentorship of their instructors Dr. Yiğit Özçelik and Dr. Touraj Ashrafian.

Özyeğin University students competed against seasoned teams who previously attended the competition from the world’s most prestigious universities including Cornell, Stanford, and Oregon State, with their 18-storey, earthquake-resistant, and applicable model which draws from Turkey’s earthquake experience. Firmly grounded on the principles of “durability” and “sustainability”, the model they coined as “OzU Blue Sky” garnered great attention as a low-cost, earthquake-resistant, and applicable project. While the model buildings of numerous teams collapsed during the competition, the 18-storey OzU Blue Sky succeeded to remain standing, resisting strongly against the earthquake load.