Month: February 2012

                                                                                                                    Octagon Box

Update 5:

Since the last week of ours has been without any news for our CSL project, we will post more updates for this in our final blog post. In this update, we will discuss similarities and differences with regards to Project Management in CIVL 201/202. We have begun on an extra project for Susan this week, of which one picture is posted in this blog; however, the contents of this will not be discussed here. Here is a tidbit of it…

Water Fountain of “secret” relevance.

Project Management Compare and Contrast:

The question of “Why does the organization want the project?” is clearly answered in CIVL 202. Each team has a community client who has a certain need for a project that students are fulfilling. In our case, we are building planter boxes for Evergreen.
However, in CIVL 201, we had a fictitious project which really served no utilitarian purpose compared to the cost of this project. An overpass would never be built in this situational context, and none of the interaction with the client or any real external force was encountered.

The question of “What are the scope objectives of this project?” or the measurable design criteria are very precise in CIVL 202. Our boxes were required to be certain depths, widths, and materials in order to accommodate for the planting and longevity of trees.
In CIVL 201, these scope objectives were much more “loose”. The bridge had to meet some code specifications and traverse the required intersection. There was a lot more room for “creative thought”.

The question of “What are the project constraints?” in CIVL 202 encompasses some pre-determined dimensions, tree-friendly materials, and costs.
In CIVL 201, there were not too many constraints aside from building code specifications and geographical ones. In the design of an overpass, the major constraints would be cost and rigorous design guidelines. None of the aforementioned were encompassed into our “design” in this course, as it was really just a fictitious structure with no regard to engineering of it. If there was encompassing of actual calculations in the course, the activity would’ve been more successful.

The project timetable can be seen in Update 3. All projects, or at least the successful execution of them, require a planned and cyclic monitoring of  process objectives and benchmarks.

This week, we were preparing the final items before the build. While nothing too exciting was completed, it was mostly just “tying loose ends” to prepare ourselves for the construction phase. We estimated material quantities and costs, and then created document lists of items to be purchased for our client. We forwarded it to Helen, and with her consultation, got the approval for the materials we need. Next week we will do the build of our boxes for Evergreen. Attached is a list of our final material costs:

Since meeting our client, we have been making a lot of progress on our project.
At our Monday meeting in CIVL 202 at the Design Studio, we decided on three prototype box drawings. The three designs are a square, rectangular, and octagonal plan-view- see attached photos.

Box Sketches

As well, we began addressing the process of how we will move forward. We looked at what steps need to be carried out and when, as well as beginning the retrieval of necessary permissions, such as use of the civil vehicle and shop time. As of Tuesday, Jedaiah had completed the attached prototype drawings. We also began a succinct “dropbox” system, an internet relay method we are using to keep a transparent, accurate documentation process throughout our CSL project. In this folder for our own use we have many documents: pictures, drawings, approximate work schedule, documentation, etc.
See attached work schedule.

Our group had a brief safety meeting with Dr. Daigle on Tuesday; however, he has postponed more details until he knows exactly what equipment we will be using.

As well, after our conversation on Monday with Susan Nesbit, we met her on Thursday to discuss alternative options to accentuate our project experience. One option was to do a stream surveying project, which certain members of our team are doing individually. As well, as a group, we have collectively decided to take part in an extra project with Susan to help move the course along, with aid from student perspective.

Some of our group went on Thursday to source materials for the building of the boxes from Home Depot. They will be collecting notes and prices for different materials and accessories we can use.

Attachment: CIVL 202 – Work Schedule

Thursday, January 26, 2012

• Site visit at Evergreen Planters, 3:30 pm.
• Receive design specifications from Helen.
• Individual Journal entries updated.

 

Friday, January 27, 2012

• Weekly blog # 2 is due.
• Individual Journal entries updated.

 

Monday, January 30, 2012

• Design Studio – Group meeting: Project Design.
• Individual Journal entries updated.
• Possibly schedule a group meeting outside of class for the CSL project.
• Start weekly blog entry #3 (ANY TIME THIS WEEK).
• Record documentations.

 

Monday, February 6, 2012

• Blog entry #3 is due.
• Design Studio – CSL tasks.
• Individual Journal entries updated (THROUGH OUT THIS WEEK).
• Possibly schedule a group meeting outside of class for the CSL project.
• Start thinking about the CSL project report.
• Start weekly blog entry #4 (ANY TIME THIS WEEK).
• Documentation.

 

Monday, February 13, 2012

• Blog entry #4 is due.
• Design Studio – CSL tasks – start finalizing.
• Individual Journal entries updated (THROUGH OUT THIS WEEK).
• Schedule implantation days for this week.
• Start weekly blog entry # 5 (ANY TIME THIS WEEK).
• CSL project report.
• Documentation.
• Start weekly blog entry # 5 (ANY TIME THIS WEEK).

 

Monday, February 20, 2012.

• Blog entry # 5 is due.
• Finalize implementation this week (IDEALLY BEFORE READING BREAK).
• Finalize report.
• Documentation.
• Start weekly blog entry # 6 (ANY TIME THIS WEEK).