Outline of the design contest for the EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN Linimo car bodies
Maglev linear-motor railway system, nicknamed “Linimo,” will be placed into service on the Tobu Kyuryo Line, one of the major means of transportation serving the EXPO 2005 site. This service will represent the first commercial operation of linear motor cars ever in Japan.
For the purpose of increasing Linimo's transportation capacity, the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition furnished one of the nine trains (each consisting of three cars) to Aichi Rapid Transit Co., Ltd., its operator, and decided to hold a design contest open to all comers for the car bodies. (The cost of Linimo provision was subsidized by the Nippon Foundation.)
Comments on the judging in the design contest for the EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN Linimo car bodies
Selection of winners in the design contest for the EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN Linimo car bodies
1) Design contest for Linimo car bodies
The contest sought designs that were in line with the EXPO 2005 theme of “Nature's Wisdom” and would help to enliven the festivities.
Contest term:
August 24 (Tuesday) - October 31 (Sunday), 2004
Eligibility qualifications and conditions:
Open to all entrants regardless of age, sex, nationality, or standing (professional vs. amateur), but only to private persons
Entry procedure:
Preparation of the design on plain white paper (A3 size), entry of requisite information (name, age, concept, etc.) on the back, and posting to the Association; entrants downloaded data for the car drawing from the EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN website.
2) Panel of judges
The entries were judged through the following procedure.
* Primary screening: November 1 (Monday), 2004
Total number of entries: 284
Male entrants: 230
Female entrants: 54
Breakdown of the number of entries by country/region
Entries from within Japan: 150
- Kanto: 28
- Chubu: 76
- Kansai: 29
- Chugoku: 10
- Kyushu: 7
Entries from other countries: 134
- Australia: 118
- USA: 13
- New Zealand: 2
- Canada: 1
Age of the youngest entrant: 4 years old
Age of the eldest entrant: 73 years old
Breakdown of the number of entrants by age
- Less than 7: 3
- 7 to 12: 16
- 13 to 15: 101
- 16 to 18: 19
- 19 to 22: 13
- 23 and older: 132
Contest judges: Kazuo Tanaka (Signage & Street Furniture Director) and other members of the Association
- Number of entries passing the primary screening: 50
*Final judging: November 2 (Tuesday), 2004
- Number of judges: 8
Member of the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition
Toshio Nakamura, Secretary-General
Toshio Miyajima, Deputy Secretary-General of Site Management & Operations Department:
Haruhiko Nonaka, Senior Director-General of Transportation Group
Norio Kondo, Director of Finance Group
Producers, etc.
Chief Producer, the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan: Masafumi Makimura
Kazuo Tanaka, Signage & Street Furniture Director of the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan:
Related persons
Sigenobu Ohtani, Dean of Faculty of Fine Arts, Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music
Kazumi Tanaka, Managing Director of Aichi Rapid Transit Co., Ltd.
Design contest winners
*First prize
- Urso S. A. Chappell, male, 37 years old. designer, “Nature's Colors”
*Second prize
- Tokue Sakamoto, female, 32 years old, designer, “Nature and the Throb of Life”
* Third prize
- Yuko Iida, female, 20 years old, special vocational school student, “Linking People and the Earth with Love”
- Soichiro Shimizu, male, welfare center employee, “Untitled” (Nature's Wisdom)
- Yeoh Guan Hong, male, 32 years old, designer, “The sensate of nature”
- Toshihiko Irie, male, 34 years old, design office employee, “Mountains Move
- (Special prize), Naoko Matsumoto, female, 11 years, primary school student, “Nature is My Friend”
