Showing posts with label Engineering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engineering. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Part Three - The Model

Research Design Project with Professor Williams 

The Site Plan Model is a physical model created based on the 3D Site Plan designed in Autodesk Revit.  Each shipping container is represented by a 4” x 1 ½” wooden block, painted a sandy color for camouflage purposes. These blocks are mounted on a piece of Architectural Butter Board. The board is painted using a mixture of the same sandy color as the containers, a light brown color, and a dark brown, and is painted in such a way as to try to mimic a sandy, silty, texture; however, this did not come out as well as hope, though the mounting board looks pleasing, it does not represent silty ground as best as it possibly could have. After the blocks were mounted in accordance to the 3D Site Plan, labels were created for each of the models.  Next, the area where the 3D Site Plan shows a fountain area with benches for esthetic reasons, the physical model puts to a more practical use.  In the military, there would be an area, enclose by sandbags, designating an assembly area, and this is what that area has become. To represent sandbags, the model uses strips of foam that have lines at intervals to create the look of a line of sandbags.  The painting of these was kind of tricky; at first I tired spray painting them, but that only led to them flying away or dissolving. So, next I tried simply coloring the strips with brown/sandy colored markers, this failed in the esthetics area though. I eventually came to the solution of individually hand painting each strip, and that seemed to work much better. There has also been a flag, held up by a rock pile to add to these embellishments.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

What I Know Now… and What I’ll Know Then

Through my years in high school, I have taken many engineering courses and have found that my passion lies within this field; but as engineering encompasses a myriad of categories, I have not even begun to scratch the surface.  I have completed courses in general engineering, engineering drafting, math, and physics, which has given me a good base in engineering, but those have only given me the technical side of engineering. Lately, I have become quite interested in Civil Engineering; therefore I decided to take my endeavor in architecture. I will learn the design principles and concepts behind structures, and integrate my prior knowledge of material testing, 3D analysis, and fundamental engineering principles, to create a project that builds and expanse my horizon of knowledge.
The architecture work and design are a learning stretch for me as I have never done architecture before.  Not only will I be learning to design in different software, Autodesk Revit, but I will be finding a way to get Revit and Inventor to communicate, increasing workflow.  I will also have to do extensive research before the designing is even started.  I will need to learn about insulation and the insulating of homes, and then apply the knowledge to insulating the container, as space requirements do not permit the use of standard housing insulation.  I will also need to learn about housing foundations and come up with one that is suitable for the purpose at hand—considering the landscape being built on, stability, and move-ability   This is just the beginning of what I will need to research, and these are only some of the topics I know that I need to research--who knows what I will find I will learn once I get started!