Team 2 hit the ground running in week 11 in preparation for next week’s client meeting. The design is underway and collaboration between the groups is coming along to solidify the final building plan.

Structural Group:

This week, the structural group focused on the basics of framing a building. Based off of the architects’ drawings, the team created a structurally feasible design that simultaneously preserves the aesthetic decisions while conforming to the laws of physics. The students learned the difference between beams and girders, and each student created their own truss design to support a glass wall. In the coming weeks, the structural team will need to calculate beam and column sizes of the design.

Construction Group:

The construction group discussed cost estimation and the development of a budget. The students were introduced to the comparable project method to determine the approximate cost of a project on a square foot basis. The R.S. Means estimating book was also discussed as a tool to find the square foot costs of material and labor rates for various trades. The mentees ended the session by working on the presentation for next week and delegating unfinished portions of their PowerPoint presentation.

Architectural Group:

In preparation for the upcoming client meeting, the architecture students discussed and solidified the concept behind our market hall project within the Focal Point development. Each student chose a topic of the design process thus far to present next week. These topics included site analysis, programming, precedents, floor plans, elevations, and materiality. The discussions and brain storming levels were high and excited – look forward to next week’s first client meeting!

MEP Group:

The MEP group picked up where it left off with the initial design.  The mentees learned more about plumbing sizing, and then covered electrical layouts and power distribution requirements for lighting and other end uses.  The interim presentation was broken down to include six sections, each lead by the six students: Mechanical, Plumbing, Electrical, LEED, Deliverables, and Challenges. The mechanical, electrical/lighting, and plumbing students then worked with a mentor specializing in that area to further develop presentation content and design concepts. Our LEED student reached an agreement with the Architecture team to pursue LEED Gold certification, and worked with the other disciplines to develop an attainable LEED credit checklist.  The students addressing deliverables and challenges collaborated with the entire team to ensure that all MEP engineering concerns and milestones were addressed.