Urban Escape
My initial thoughts and feelings on this project were shock that we had so much freedom. Coming from traditional school, I wasn't used to a self directed project. That being said, I convinced my project group that we should do an ambitious project. We made a lot of phone calls and plans for our original design but never received any materials or money to build it. We had to change our plan many times before landing on what we have built now.
I thought success would be our original design built over the creek. That would’ve been nice to have and I feel would’ve been a cool addition to the campus but, we now have a space that fits even more needs and values than the original design and its built in a reasonable spot. Success now is when our shade structure is being used for lunch or just to relax and work.
My advice to a student about to begin this project would be, start building and using your hands as soon as possible because that’s how you find problems with your design and new ideas to solve them or change your design entirely. This is how my group ended up at our final product. It helps you figure out what’s realistic and what’s not, while also helping you arrive at new ideas along the way. I wish I knew this when I started the project. It would’ve saved us the headache.
We spoke to guest speakers and went of field trips to try and wrap our head around sustainability. What stuck out to me through everything we learned was that sustainability serves a purpose with little to no environmental impact. Our project is made of materials that won't harm the environment besides the spray paint and doesn't obstruct any natural process while still serving as an outdoor space to learn and relax.
Sustainable design in my own words is designing with functionality in mind as well as it's impact on the environment. For example, a tiny home requires minimal heating and materials while still housing people and lasting as long or longer than a regular house. The minimal heating and materials minimizes the environmental impact while still serving as a house.
I thought success would be our original design built over the creek. That would’ve been nice to have and I feel would’ve been a cool addition to the campus but, we now have a space that fits even more needs and values than the original design and its built in a reasonable spot. Success now is when our shade structure is being used for lunch or just to relax and work.
My advice to a student about to begin this project would be, start building and using your hands as soon as possible because that’s how you find problems with your design and new ideas to solve them or change your design entirely. This is how my group ended up at our final product. It helps you figure out what’s realistic and what’s not, while also helping you arrive at new ideas along the way. I wish I knew this when I started the project. It would’ve saved us the headache.
We spoke to guest speakers and went of field trips to try and wrap our head around sustainability. What stuck out to me through everything we learned was that sustainability serves a purpose with little to no environmental impact. Our project is made of materials that won't harm the environment besides the spray paint and doesn't obstruct any natural process while still serving as an outdoor space to learn and relax.
Sustainable design in my own words is designing with functionality in mind as well as it's impact on the environment. For example, a tiny home requires minimal heating and materials while still housing people and lasting as long or longer than a regular house. The minimal heating and materials minimizes the environmental impact while still serving as a house.
Our project stray's completely from our interviews and any design we ever drew out. The only thing that drove our design was desire for shade in the hot sun and the small amount of time we had left. However, it still did meet desires for an outdoor space that we did see in our empathy mapping, like comfort, cool temperatures, and shade. Our final design is even better for our campus than our original.
We used our freedom in this project to get what was possible done rather than assigning ourselves an impossible task. We started with a relatively impossible task and simplified our work near the end. With this freedom to change and decide what we do, we finished with something we can be proud of.
Our final product is a small space built into the side of the hill to provide shade to anyone under it. To make the experience more enjoyable, we provided carpet and and a cushion in the shade to avoid unnecessary contact with any dirt or rocks. I helped with most of the construction and carrying the sheet metal, as well as bolting the sheet metal down and staking the cushion and carpet into the shaded ground.
The 21st century skills I grew in the most were critical thinking and problem solving. Our original design was very ambitious. In the last week of the project, we didn’t have the materials, know how, or money to finish on time. We had to scrap all of our plans and try to solve another immediate summer problem: heat. We started building on the stage located in the east amphitheater to try to put up shade there because it was a popular hangout spot. By the time we were almost done, we had to change our project again because the stage was off limits for building. We took the frame and unscrewed half of it to make it half the size, then we relocated it to the top of the hill. We dug out the hill under the project to create a larger space. We then had small splotch of shade in the dirt. We sent Anthony, with what funds we did have, to home depot to buy the finishing touches: a rug and a cushion. Now we have dug out shade spot that’s comfortable, easy to access, and cool in the summer. All 3 of which turned out to be popular demands in empathy interviews.
The Habit of Heart and Mind I need to grow the most in is advocacy. During this project, Sara had troubles with me and my group because I did not understand a significant amount of instruction or reasoning behind said instruction. I could have advocated better with Sara and my group to be more productive and less problematic.
A time when things got hard and I was able to solve a problem was when my group and I needed to start building. One of my best qualities in this project is my engineers mind and my history in building things. In the final week, we had nothing yet constructed. I got wood down right away because we were running out of time and that sent the project into overdrive. The whole group then started building and refining what we had.
A time when things got hard and I was unable to solve a problem was when we didn’t have the money or materials to build what we originally planned to build. We had an elaborate plan and location to build a pergola like structure over the creek but we were unable to complete it because we could not contact CDOT, who owns the land under the creek, and we didn’t have enough money or resources to complete our build as planned. These are problems we didn’t solve because without foresight regarding money, materials, or permits, we couldn’t get it done on time.