Classicists star in international competition
A group of Year 7 and 8 pupils recently entered the Suburani Build it Challenge. This competition, judged by Professor Matthew Nicholls, challenged participants to choose one building or monument from the Suburani Latin textbook, research how it would have looked, and build it in 3D, either as a digital or physical model. As a department we were very impressed by the quality and variety of creations. Every participant received a certificate from Suburani, and we were delighted to have two students chosen as winners!
Below, our two winners describe their experience:
Leo (Year 7) won in the Religious buildings category. He commented:
“When I heard about this competition, I was so excited!
I decided to build a model of the Sacred Spring in Aquae Sulis because its architectural design was unique and magnificent. I built my digital model with Minecraft as I wish to show my younger sister that learning is always fun and can be very creative.
Through the project, I researched the structure of the Sacred Spring as well as its history. In my model, I followed the Sacred Spring’s exact dimensions, 25m by 9m. Also, at the time of the Suburani textbook characters, it was around 60AD so I thought there would still be a barrel shaped roof, which makes my model look different from what we may see nowadays.
In this international competition, there were seas of submissions from all over the world, both digital and physical ones. It is absolutely fascinating to look at the submission gallery.
I am thrilled that my creation and effort was appreciated and that I am selected as a winner!”
Nathan (Year 8) placed Runner-Up in the Public Buildings category. He commented:
“Originally, I didn’t even join the challenge to try and win - at the time, I’d just decided to take up Blender (a 3D modelling software) as a hobby. Since it was such a large and complex piece of software, I had no idea where to start, but the Build-It challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to begin, and a clear goal to head towards. I picked the Arch of Hadrian to model not only because it looked unique and I found the design outstanding, but also because it was quite easy to construct from simple shapes, while also looking very impressive - perfect for a novice like me.
Being a beginner at Blender, there was a lot of trial and error and many setbacks but after spending roughly two weeks on it, I finished the project.
Winning the title of “runner-up” came as a complete surprise for me! For someone who had just started learning the ins and outs of Blender for a side project, it was quite unexpected that my design had been recognised, but it had definitely given me motivation to continue pursuing this hobby.”