Reflection: Rikki

Going through these last ten or so weeks has been quite the journey, but overall I think we as a group have grown into a cohesive and hardworking team.  We as a whole have faced our challenges throughout the semester, but overall I feel we have come out on top.  Our design project has come a long way.  It was first, a mere simple idea, and now it has grown into a tangible piece of inspiration.  As we develop the bridge for testing this week I am confident that by the time we present our project in week ten the bridge aspect of our project will be complete and will tie our entire theme of a place to collectively collaborate on knowledge together.  I have really enjoyed working with my group mates.  They have each brought something different and unique to the table, and we have grown into our own little family. 

As for our actual class, I have enjoyed this semester overall.  The K'NEX bridge competition proved to be an interesting endeavor, and I feel that as a group we learned a lot about the many elements that go into designing a bridge and the mechanics to weight distribution throughout a bridge.  It is in that gained knowledge that we pressed on and continued to work with bridge building.  Although we chose to move away from K'NEX and work with Erector instead.  Dr. Aktan and Ben have taught us a lot about what it takes to manage our own project.  Especially in the aspect of determining scope, parameters, and the overall elements that need to be defined when building a pedestrian bridge.   This experience has been one that I will never forget, and I plan to apply the knowledge I have gained through this class to my future experiences. 

Reflection: Mark

I have been very happy with our class this term. I enjoyed working on our Lilliputen bridge. While working on the bridge I learned how to use a number of tools in designing the bridge. Using these tools ahead of time made building the actual bridge much faster and more efficient. Also, I feel like we got much more in depth as far as the design process goes.

               My favorite part of this term has been the final project. Working with my group has been great. Everyone has really believed in the project and I feel like our final product will reflect that fact. I feel like we all brought our own set of skills to the table and contributed greatly to the whole. I really saw how important it is to have a group leader as well. Without someone to coordinate all the tasks nothing would ever get done. The only regret I have is that we didn’t have more time to work on the final project.

Page Photo

Updated Progress

Over the past two weeks we have had our ups and downs as a group regarding our freshmen design project. We have made a lot of progress in the past week. Last Wednesday we were able to secure an advisor, Professor Ellis. Since then we have done a lot of research on different styles of bridges and different communities that may be similar to the one we are designing. Bader has succeeded in creating a semi-rough sketch of the community on AutoCad. It displays the community as a whole in two dimensions with a rough design of the bridge that will connect the buildings. The AutoCad sketch can be viewed on this website. Right now we are at a bit of a standstill awaiting the arrival of the erector pieces that we plan to use to build our bridge with. 

New Project: Drexel C.O.R.E

Drexel C.O.R.E is the Collective Opportunities for Research and Education is a centralized community based on an atom. The purpose of said community is to promote knowledge and research through lifestyle in a healthy and productive burst of architecture, science, and art.

Original Atom Design: this is currently the underlying base and foundation of the city.

 Combining them all to create an atmosphere that is a benefactor to progress. While the original idea was to design the entire city, we have decided to make the main project about a bridge, that way we can implement our knowledge from our initial bridge project. There are 3 main buildings in the outskirts of the community, the bridge will connect these three buildings while unifying the entire community in a smooth and aesthetic nature.
 Pre-bridge idea for city:

Original bridge without main bridge; with bridge superposed on top.

Our hard constraints for the bridge:

1. The bridge must connect to the third floor of each of the three main buildings.
2. The center of the bridge must be self-supporting.
3. The bridge must be able to support at least 15 pounds in various places, but especially the center. This constraint will be modified as the bridge comes into construction.

Testing:

1. The uppermost part of the bridge cannot be over 40 feet tall.
2. The section of bridge connected to the plaza must touch to the ground on angle.

Soft constraints:

1. The bridge must be convenient to walk both under and over.
2. The bridge must be aesthetically pleasing. 

The following are concept drawings of the bridge and/or the buildings:

Concepts for connecting buildings to bridges

Concept design for the buildings

Original drawing pre-color

Bridge center and leg concept

Bridge from medical and art buildings to the center plaza

Design Development

As the K'NEX Bridge Competition comes to a close our group has begun working on our next big project.  We are now beginning to plan and brainstorm our Freshman Design Project, which is a project we have proposed ourselves.  We are in the process of finding an advisor to oversee our project, but we are going ahead with our planning anyway.  Will provide more information regarding our project design details as we come to further to making our detailed decisions. 

week 2 reflection

During the final testing of the bridges in the competition, our bridge held up 20 lb's with no problem and Professor Aktan pointed out that it was very sturdy and the design was strong however there was a point where the bridge was weakest and that was the "ankles" of the piers, although that weakness was contrasted and supported by the wide bases of the piers themselves.
Overall we did not place first, however we did have one of the more efficient bridges. We were penalized for not meeting the specified height requirements because they were okay last week and we didn't change them. This added to our costs. All in all it was a very successful bridge and very insightful when it came to understanding structure and their purpose and physical costs.
 Our group improved their speed when setting up which decreased costs and the bridge design was much more sturdy in terms of internal infrastructure as opposed to simply having solid exterior form.