黑洞社区

Who doesn鈥檛 love a pub quiz? If the 黑洞社区 Quiz - held by Turner & Townsend alinea and Fieldfisher in aid of charity 鈥� is anything to go by the answer is certainly no one.

Held on 7 September at Fieldfisher鈥檚 central London office it is hard to imagine a better setting for a night of competitive quizzing.

With arrivals from 6pm those in attendance were blessed to make the most of London鈥檚 early spring heat wave, enjoying the views the of the Thames from the law firm鈥檚 ninth floor balcony with a drink in hand while soaking up the sun and rousing renditions of Hit me baby one more time, from the band The Super Tenors.

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With the clock striking 6.30 teams made their way inside - ready for the first of eight regulation rounds covering a wide breadth of topics.

Hosted by Turner & Townsend alinea partner Steve Watts and Cecily Davis, construction and projects partner at Fieldfisher, teams鈥� knowledge and wits were pitted against one another not only in the regular quiz rounds, but also two marathon rounds and a construction challenge (see box).

Each team was looking to secure a total out of a possible 150 points.

Round one saw the teams testing their culinary knowledge with 10 questions all about food and drink. While Greystar and Turner & Townsend both scored a 10 out of 10 it was perhaps one participant鈥檚 quick quip from one attendee that was the standout performer of the round. 鈥淲hat,鈥� asked Watts. 鈥淒o Australians call the grape the French call syrah?鈥� The response from the crowd? 鈥淚t鈥檚 lager mate.鈥� (For those playing at home the answer is shiraz).

Round two, which centred on transport and geography, saw the first joker cards, which double a team鈥檚 score for that round, played. To do this a member of each team was required to stand on their chair and hold their card up before the first question had been asked - something Davis said the quiz masters would be particularly strict on.

Rounds three and four, which were superbly hosted by Davis, involved questions that involved colour and a short-term memory test - all about events that had taken place in the past 18 months. It was also at this point that teams were required to hand in the first of their two marathon rounds - entitled Alphabet Soup.

At this point dinner was served, with the Super Tenors returning to the room for a sing-along version of A-ha鈥檚 Take on Me while the judges tallied up the scores. It was also the point where one of the most contentious points of the evening, with Davis returning to the microphone to update the leaderboard at halfway. While Lonestar鈥檚 Dallas Cowboys were leading the way, it was Fieldfisher, coming next to last that was the cause of the furore.

Having realised they had failed to hand in their marathon round sheet the team plead with Davis to accept their sheet. Davis told her Fieldfisher colleagues it would be up to the crowd to vote on whether the sheet would be allowed to be included. The resounding 鈥渘o鈥� was proof enough that the competitive spirit is alive and well in construction and meant Don鈥檛 eat the marshmellows was condemned to a zero for the round.

Some super (sweet) structures

Across the night teams were tasked with an ongoing project - build an impressive structure out of dried spaghetti and marshmallows.

Teams all took a different approach with a Ferris wheel, skyscrapers and everything in between crafted by the contestants.

Arup claimed the top points, leading to Watts suggesting: 鈥淯nsurprisingly it was the engineers who were the most enthusiastic builders.鈥�

Vinci scored second spot, while Overbury rounded out the top three. 

Explore some of the magnificent designs and constructions in the gallery below.

 

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Source: Wilde Fry

Source: Wilde Fry

Source: Wilde Fry

Source: Wilde Fry

Source: Wilde Fry

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In the second half of the quiz many teams attention was divided between the questions at hand and the dry spaghetti-marshmallow construction challenge (see box). 

Round five was one that favoured those who have a way with words. Entitled 鈥淒on鈥檛 quote me on that!鈥� teams were asked to answer a series of questions featuring some of history and literatures most famous quotes. At the end of the round Greystar was still holding the lead, while Multiplex was still holding up the table.

Rounds six and seven flew by in a flurry of questions and construction - with games and sport and all things nature being the topics of exploration. 

Heading into the final round of questions the second marathon round - a series of pictures of famous buildings from around the world - were collected as it was announced that Lonestar still held the lead.

The final round tested contestants鈥� knowledge of the built environment - including questions about the largest architecture practice in the world, as well as the winner of the Client of the Year at the 2022 黑洞社区 Awards. If anyone wants to know the answers were Gensler and Muse, respectively.

With the results of the second marathon round and structure building competition revealed (and a few queries about answers and scores quashed) it was time to reveal the winners. After everything was said and done Lonestar was pipped at the post by De Vinci code breakers who stormed into first place.

Lonestar claimed second place, while Camargue rounded out the top three. At the other end of the table the missed marathon round cost Fieldfisher, meaning the law firm ended up in 10th place.

The night was part of wider efforts to support PAPYRUS UK - a charity for the prevention of young suicide - which have seen more than 拢250,000 raised. A huge thank you to everyone that has contributed.