NT SONA Upscale Winners 2020

Over the weekend, nearly 100 design students from across the country participated in phase 1 of the SONA build and design challenge, Upscale. Upscale aims to provide students with the opportunity to engage and collaborate with their peers, technical advisors and professionals from within the built environment.

This year the event was delivered virtually. While this presented some challenges, the refreshed program proved to have many rewarding benefits. With distance no longer a barrier, students were able to connect with mentors from all over Australia. The chapters combined their briefs and the judging panels were diverse, with representation from multiple states and territories on the panels.

The top team in each chapter will now see their design come to life through the build phase, where they will be involved in building their design. More details on this phase will come later in the year.

It was a fantastic program and we’d like to thank everyone for taking part. The event could not have gone ahead without the mentors and jury members who volunteered their time over the weekend to encourage students to think critically about design and innovation. Thank you to the SONA executive team and the network of SONA representatives across the country who worked tirelessly on the brief, and to chapter staff who helped to support the SONA teams to deliver a rewarding event.