Throughout this project I have learned a lot, not only about what I thought I was going to learn, but also a multitude of unpredicted things as well! I researched a variety of concepts and acquired a comprehensive knowledge in a broad range of categories. I focused on researching Intermodal Steel Building Units (ISBU) or shipping containers, and the application of these components as housing accommodations; as well as, architectural principles, such as insulation, foundation, and component clearance. I soon found though, the more I learned the more I needed to research in different areas. Insulation research turned into extensive research on insulation types, wall composition, heat transfer and thermal resistance, and so on! Then the foundation was not simply deciding the foundation type, it involved research into the region’s soil properties and load calculations. And with the component clearance, I had to integrated math and physics principles in the application of spatial design—let me just say, this is no piece of cake! I even learned about the military! Seeing as I WAS designing for the military it only made since I knew how many personnel made a squad and that four squads make a platoon! Not to mention, the military actually has a program, JOCOTAS (The Joint Committee on Tactical Shelters), that calls for housing reform—which is exactly what my project provides! But these are only the concepts I learned from the research alone, there was SO much more to this project than just research!
I designed in a whole new software I had never used before—Autodesk Revit, a Building Information Modeling software. This presented its own set of challenges and knowledge base. I learned the software from the ground up, and even learned how to do some pretty advanced things—as I was designing in shipping containers, which the software interpreted as components not buildings and therefore they worked differently and had to be treated as such. I also worked with designing components I needed but could not find. I established software communication by designing these components in Autodesk Inventor, and exporting them and importing them into my Revit project. In doing this, I learned how to identify components that have been imported into Revit from another software—as, in the transfer the component becomes a single mass, and usually design materials are lost. In working with imported components, I have not found a way to alter material types, though there is most likely some way that I have yet to discover. But that is what the software is about—you play around with it enough and there is that “AH HA” moment when you figure out how something is done.
Project RHEMIDI has been a great experience for me, I not only gained knowledge and insight into the field of architecture, but now I am sure, civil engineering with an architectural back, is definitely the career I want to pursue in college!
