The Altınbaş University Team, composed of Civil Engineering and Architecture students, became the champion of the Natural Disaster Insurance Institution (DASK) competition with their resilient building projects. The team, also received the "Best Earthquake Performance Special Award" for their project named "Ripple Otel" and received their awards from Minister Mehmet Şimşek at the ceremony held in Gaziantep.

The project, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sepanta Naimi and Research Assistant Merve Handere, was prepared by students from the Civil Engineering and Architecture departments: Kenan Şahan, Esra Nur Çağlar, Miray Öztürk, Ömer Bozdoğan, and Kübra Öztürk.

Kenan Şahan, the captain of the team, stated, "Our model, consisting of 24 floors, managed to withstand a tremor equivalent to the Kahramanmaraş earthquake without any damage. This shows us the importance of proper design." He emphasized that the strongest aspect of their project was the steel crossbars. "We reinforced our structure, made of reinforced concrete, with steel crossbars to create dynamism vertically. This was the aspect that brought us the championship," he said.

Kenan Şahan also mentioned that their project was evaluated based on criteria such as earthquake performance, financial rental income, and weight, leading them to be deemed worthy of the award, expressing the team's happiness.

Research Assistant Merve Handere, who worked on the project, highlighted the significant contributions of the DASK-organized earthquake-resistant building design competition to students. She pointed out that students learned how to prepare a building for the field by having fun and applying what they learned, emphasizing the necessity of teamwork for such projects.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sepanta Naimi, the Project Advisor and Head of the Civil Engineering Department, stated, "Our students dreamed first and then implemented. They tested whether their applied project was correct or incorrect. In this way, they had the opportunity to see the outcome of designs they will make in real life."

Naimi congratulated his students for their success in the competition, explaining that DASK aims to increase the awareness of university students, especially civil engineering candidates, about earthquakes and earthquake-resistant building design. He emphasized that although Türkiye is prone to earthquakes, it is possible to build resilient buildings by fulfilling the requirements of science, emphasizing that the most important thing is to turn natural events into disasters by correct designs.

Explaining that the Civil Engineering and Architecture students of Altınbaş University participated in the seventh edition of the DASK competition to increase their awareness of earthquakes, Naimi stated that students could observe the behavior of the structures they designed experimentally through this participation.