Dr. S.Y.S Ting Barriers

We have made great progress this week!

This Tuesday, our group went to the garden and met with our client Claudette again with our preferred design. She said that she would take it to the architect to get it approved, so that we can use our design for calculations and documentation. This is a huge step for our project; our group has not met Claudette for a long time, and after this meeting, our design is nearly finalized, allowing us to complete project deliverables and move on to the next step. At this point, we still have several things to do. Choosing the materials is the most important issue for us, as this includes the amount of materials that we need, the budget, where we can buy them, and what skills we can use to cut them safely and efficiently. Mainly, the core material of our design is bamboo, and we will look into exactly where we can buy them. During the meeting, Claudette also said that we cannot use objects and materials in the garden. It seems that our project has become more difficult and the estimated completion date has been delayed even further.

Measurements of the area where our barriers will stand inside the garden

However, the situation mentioned in the previous paragraph has changed after our group left the garden. Andy was taking photos in the garden in order to make measurements to scale. Claudette approached him and had a short conversation with him, saying that because our group is short of time, she has decided to modify our design to a much simpler one. The modified design is made of only bamboo sticks tied together by oiled twine, and the main shape of the barrier consists of a triangle. Later on, she guided Andy to a place in the garden where there was a lot of bamboos. She said that our group could use as many bamboo sticks in the pile as we want. Andy was very happy to hear about this good news because our main problem has been solved, and now we only need to find a place to buy oiled twine. Before Andy was dismissed from the garden, she picked up a sample barrier which was made by another group a long time ago, and told Andy to bring it to our group meeting, so that we can make the best out of it.

Our client showed us this sample barrier that was left behind by a previous group; the design consists of a triangle

The bamboo sticks in the garden of which we are allowed to utilize for our barriers

It seems that at this point, if our project goes well and we stick to our new schedule, we should be able to finish the project by the end of March.

After today’s group meeting at school, we have decided that we will pick up the bamboo sticks from the garden this Sunday, as well as purchase oiled twine and glue from a hardware store. With these tasks completed by the end of the week, we will be set to construct the barriers next week. We aim to finish the documentation portfolio by the coming Monday, which will be our first deliverable for the project. Everything will go up from here, never down again! Stay tuned for our blog post next week!

After a relaxing reading break last week, our team has managed to schedule a meeting with our client on Tuesday, March 6. During this meeting, we are hoping to finalize the design with the Operations Manager as well as the Executive Director of the Garden, who will ensure that our design is appropriate and “Ming”.

Before the reading break, our team has already decided on what materials to use and also came up with an estimate of how much materials we need, according to our preferred design. The preferred design is having 2 horizontal bamboo sticks with vertical “curly” sticks tied onto the bamboo sticks, forming a simple form of a fence-like barrier. However, we are not set to purchase these materials until we get confirmation from our client on our design and materials list. Unfortunately we are lacking communication with our client, and we really hope that the project will pick up the pace after Tuesday’s meeting.

Because the project is coming to an end very soon, time management and rescheduling a new timeline for our coursework are huge factors that our team must consider about for the rest of the month. We are hoping to build at least 1 of the 3 barriers; if time permits we will be more than happy to complete the project and build all 3 barriers. However, if time is not on our side, then perhaps building 1 barrier as a prototype would have to suffice. Of course, our team would much rather complete the project and meet the client’s goal by the end of the month. Our team is still very enthusiastic about the project and we really want to contribute to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens.

After meeting with Dr. Nesbit this week, we have decided that Tuesday’s meeting will be a crucial step for the project. At this meeting, we must finalize everything – the design, the materials, the cost, the construction schedule, and the expectations of the project. More exciting blog posts to come next week, so stay tuned! Have a great weekend!

Over the Reading Break, we received word from Claudette that she would like to meet us at the Gardens on Monday, March 5th to get approval from the executive director of the gardens and the architect, so as to finalize the design.

As this changes our plans (we had planned to complete construction over the Reading Break), we will need to implement a new schedule in order to anticipate our new completion date. Modifications to the scope of the project may be necessary.

We will discuss any modifications and change in schedule with Dr. Nesbit on Thursday at 12:30 pm.

During Monday’s meeting, our team decided that it would be best to start building the Ting barriers over reading week. Our client has seen our designs and she seems very happy with them (as are we), we are now waiting for the approval from the executive director of the gardens.

As a reminder, our favourite design is shown below-we are really hoping this is going to be the chosen one as we feel it blends in well with the landscape and feel of the garden.

Once our design is approved we will go ahead with purchasing materials, here is the tentative list we have come up with:

–       1.5m x 15 pieces (bamboo, no shorter than 1.5m each length)

–       30 m of curly sticks, no shorter than 1 m a piece

–       wood glue

–       waxed synthetic cord of natural colour

–       some sort of sealant/protector to help slow the weathering process of the twine and sticks

We have tried to remain as natural and simple as possible with our materials list based on the restrictions the garden has provided us with (no nails, screws, metal, etc.). As for our projected completion date of the three barriers, if our design is approved before next week we will go ahead with the construction! We are very excited to begin making the barriers and can’t wait to see the final result.

This week our group decided to get some measurements in the garden, this is one of the most important part of our design. After we obtain these data, we can decide which materials that we are going to use, and how much of the materials that we need. In addition, how we can get these materials will become our problem. Based on the measurements, it shows that for our beautiful but a little bit complex design, it going to require a lot of materials. Now we still don’t know who is going to pay them. Next week, we are going to discuss this in details to ensure our design is realistic. We are not allowed to use metal, so we can’t use nails to put wood or bamboo together. Using rope is a good choice, however, we may need a lot of them to make our barriers strong and we need to consider the design life of ropes.

Our designs are very beautiful!!! It will be compatible with the art in Ming Dynasty. In the garden, the rocks are from Ming Dynasty, they are old and slippery. The client asked us to design moveable barriers so that during holidays and festivals they can remove the barriers to let people climb up the fake hill to get to the “ting”. After my second time to the garden, I strongly recommend that our design needs a base, such as a box or bracket, otherwise it won’t stand.

Next week, hope we can finalize our design and find out what materials we need and how we can obtain them. Then the week after next week, which is reading break, we can actually build barriers, to make our design into a real thing!!!

Come on, we are the best team ever!!!

Since our project is designing barriers which must be compatible with Ming Dynasty Garden architecture, design and appearance, here is an explanation of features of Ming Dynasty Gardens.

The gardens in Ming Dynasty are the most outstanding representatives of Chinese gardens. Many of the gardens are designed by the famous literati and painters with its beautiful scenery; a large pond full of lotus blossoms, surrounded by structures and pavilions designed as viewpoints of the lake and gardens.

1. Enjoy the Natural Beauty without leaving your house

The appreciation of natural scenery is an important part of Ming Dynasty gardens. They pursued the special pleasure of “enjoying the beauty of nature without leaving your house,” and aimed for the standard of the “four fits” and “one effect” ; fit for strolling in, fit for sightseeing, fit for amusement and fit for residence, and the effect of being “pleasing to the ears, with the sounds of apes and birds and being pleasing to the eyes, with the scenes of mountains and waters.”

2. Raise the Visitors’ Awareness of the Beauty of Space

Various architectural techniques are used to arrange the position and expand the visual space, such as winding and covering, hiding and revealing, closing and opening, separating and borrowing, to make visitors aware of the aesthetic use of space. All of techniques were used to give a far-reaching view within a restricted area through the arrangement, organization, creation and extension of space.

3. Bring in the Bright Moon and the Fresh Breeze from Nature

Ming Dynasty gardens emphasize the spirit and the vitality of the gardens by using ever-changing nature, such as rain, wind, clouds and sunshine. They are designed to bring into the garden the shades of clouds, the sheen of sunlight, the changes of daylight from dawn to dusk and the variations in weather, enabling even a small garden to contain beautiful, diverse scenery.

4. The Charm of Rocks and Stone

Artificial rocks are regarded as a model of copying from nature. This rocky structure is described as “one mountain possessing the forms of hundreds of mountains.” When it is seen from different angles and perspectives, it has diverse looks from mansions, houses, halls, pavilions, boats, bridges, cliffs, valleys, hills and caves.

5. The Beauty of Flowers and Trees

The gardens  are full of beautiful trees and flowers, which have various colors, pleasant fragrances, shape and special characteristics, greatly added to the charm of the gardens. Also, different flowers were planted to bloom in different seasons, giving a changeable beauty.

6. The Beauty of Black and White Shadows of Light

Architectural structures in Ming Dynasty gardens were peculiar with black tiles and whitewashed walls, simple and elegant, with the charm of a sharp contrast between black and white. In Ming Dynasty gardens, there is a beauty of the shadows from the light.  At sunset, the rockworks, peaks, bamboo, cypresses and the other trees and flowers in the garden cast the black shadows of their profiles onto the white wall.

The following are the drawings the team made to both analyze and brainstorm for the final design of the Ting Barriers, more details are in the captions and descriptions of the photos:

As the first blog post, we would like provide some background information regarding our CIVL 202 CSL Project as well as formally introduce our team to you.

What is our project?

The organization that we will be working with is the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Garden, located in Chinatown. We are assigned to build 3 “Ting Barriers”. In Chinese, “ting” means temple, and in the following photos to come, you will see this temple, which is situated on top of a mountain of rocks. The temple is fairly small, and primarily made as a symbolic and decorative piece for the garden. The objective of this project is to build 3 barriers to prevent people from climbing up the mountain of rocks to the temple as there are no hand rails or defined steps to do so. It is very dangerous to climb up the rocks.

A few hours ago, our team met with Claudette, Martin, the Operations Manager at the garden. It was our first meeting with her, and she gave us a brief tour and explained the project to us with details. Key points that we must keep in mind when designing the barriers include the following:

-The barriers must reflect artistic motifs, patterns, or symbols of the Ming Dynasty. For example, materials used to construct the barriers will likely be wood, bamboo sticks and twine; using a drill and building the barriers using nails and metals will not be applicable.
-The barriers must blend in with the surroundings; it should not catch people’s attention but at the same time it should be practical and meets the purpose.
-The barriers must be easily put up and put down to prevent or allow passage.

Claudette also advised us to contact the garden’s architect, Joe Wai, who will give us ideas and feedback over the span of the project. Our team is really excited to design and build these barriers, and we have ideas ourselves already. We cannot wait to share with you when we are able to get the designs on paper in the weeks to come! Here are some photos that our team member Olivia has taken with her new DSLR camera at the site visit today. Enjoy!

Our Team

Our team consists of 6 members – (from left to right according to the photo above) – Andy Yin, Joanne Chow, Azzie Fallahi, Steph Ridenour, Olivia Lund, and Yujin Kim. It is quite ironic how our team was put together; we were all very surprised that our team consists of mostly girls, and only one guy, despite the small girl to guy ratio in our civil engineering department. All in all, we are all very thrilled to work with each other. Our personal bio’s are listed below. We hope to have you come back to our team blog to keep up with our project progress. We will be updating the blog once a week, and we promise eventful posts in the near future!

Andy Yin:

Hi everyone, I’m Andy, and I am from north-east part of China. When I was young, I did well in Math and Physics, that’s why I chose engineering. Civil engineering relies on forces and equilibrium, I love them very much, so I chose Civil engineering to be my career.

Joanne Chow:

Hey everyone, my name is Joanne Chow and I am from Hong Kong. Having a Chinese background, I am very interested in learning more about the history and artistic styles of the Ming Dynasty from this project. Things that I like to do when I have free time include eating and shopping. Even though I am currently majoring in civil engineering, I am hoping to pursue a career that is design-based, perhaps in architecture or industrial design.

Azzie Fallahi:

Hello, I am Azadeh Fallahi and I am part of the team responsible for designing a pedestrian barrier to help with both the safety and the preservation of the Ting and the mountain. Before moving to Canada 2 years ago, I was studying Architecture in Iran and the main reason I am studying Civil Engineering right now is to be able to pursue an architecture career while knowing a thing or two about how the buildings actually hold up. I am very excited and honored to be working on a project that will combine all my passions which are architecture, design, structural engineering and still contain a cultural aspect as well. Looking forward to a constructive collaboration between our team and the management of Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden.

Steph Ridenour:

Hello, my name is Steph-
I am from a small town called Duncan, which is located between Victoria and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. When I was deciding what to go to university for, I was torn between architecture, interior design, and engineering. Luckily I chose the latter! My interests include lightweight rowing, swimming, sailing, travelling and cooking (because who doesn’t love food?). I have a very strong interest in sustainability, and will be embarking on the Environmental Option beginning next year. I look forward to meeting and working with you! Cheers!

Olivia Lund:

Hello, my name is Olivia Lund and I am from Kamloops, BC. I chose Civil Engineering because I have always taken an interest in buildings, bridges, and just structures in general (as a child I constantly played with lego). Some things I enjoy outside of school include dancing (ballet, jazz, contemporary), gardening, travelling, and walking my dogs. I am eager to start working on this project as I am sure it will be both a memorable and meaningful experience!

Yujin Kim:

Hi, I am Yujin Kim and I am from Korea. I came to Canada to study 2 years ago. I chose civil engineering as my major in UBC since I am interested in structures. I am glad to be in civil engineering as I find a lot of interesting knowledge and techniques here. I am sure that our group will enjoy our fantastic project!!

You can chronicle your CSL team’s weekly accomplishments as you move toward the successful completion of your project.