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This is our 6th and final blog entry! Since our last post we have finished the 3D Sketchup drawings, and completed our poster for the Presentations held last week on March 25th.

 

Summary of the Project Achievements

Originally, our client North Shore Connexions asked us to remove and replace an existing staircase in the building. Our team enthusiastically took the project head on, and we were excited for a hands-on experience. Unfortunately during the design phases we realized that to safely build a staircase for a public facility, we would require professional carpentry experience that frankly none of us possessed. Thus the scope of our project shifted to focusing on producing industry level technical drawings of the staircase, which could later be used by an experienced team to safely build the structure. From there, we produced AutoCAD drawings (see previous blog post) and 3D Sketchup Drawings. Earlier this week, we submitted our final design package to North Shore Connexions.

 

Contributions Made to the Community

After our modifications to the project scope, some of us were slightly disappointed about not being able to be involved in the construction of the new staircase. It would have been rewarding to see our designs come to life and experience it’s impact on the facility first-hand. Realistically however, we would not have been able to ensure a safe structure. As such, our contributions to the community were not as big as we had hoped. We do wish that our design aids the future construction of the staircase, and in turn benefits the facility and it’s users.

 

Conclusion

Despite our reduction in project scope, there were still many things our team was able to learn from this experience. One of the biggest things we learned was to be flexible and prepared for any changes to the original plan. After the modification to the scope, we were able to adapt and refocus on our new goals. In our case the plan change resulted in a reduced workload, however our team can still take this as a lesson for the future, where a plan change may result in an increased work load.

Additionally our team gained valuable experience in project management. The open-ended CBEL project was a stark contrast with our CIVL 201 Bridge Project, in that the bridge project had very structured assignments to help guide the team towards completion. This open-endedness in our CBEL project was mitigated by our groups efficient and structured planning in the form of frequent meetings to ensure each member was on track with their respective tasks, ensuring the project progressed smoothly.

To conclude our final blog post, we would like to thank the kind folks over at North Shore Connexions, our mentor Yu Wang, and Dr. Nesbit.

Thanks for reading!

In the past two weeks, our team was mainly focused on the drawings of the staircase and the project poster after finalizing the design. We have been working on the drawings and finished one of the representations of the staircase. The final Sketch-up drawing is our next goal of action and will be displayed on our project poster.

To give a review, our original project involved the design and construction of a staircase, but now the project implementation plan was changed since the current scope of our project focuses only on the design, as clearly stated in the previous blogs. Our team has come up with a final design of the new staircase which has a total height of 10 with a rise of 7 and a cross-section of 5 by 14.5 of each per step. It is shown in the figure below.

Figure: Side View of Staircase

Figure: Top View of Landing

Our team was followed all the stages of the project and was able to succeed in implementing all stages of the project on time. Out of all the tasks we have done so far, our team has reached the conclusion that both the design of the new staircase and the poster has especially gone well. The only thing that we might need to take a look and improve on are the AutoCAD drawings, since there are still some details that need to be added before showing it to the clients so that a professional standard can be guaranteed.

For the next stages of our project, we have decided in our weekly group meeting on Wednesday (March 20th, 2013) that the leftover take-away team tasks will be done as scheduled. The tasks are shown below, and the process will be updated in the next blog.

March 23th: 3D Sketch-up Drawings (by Kanish)

March 24th: Completion of Poster (by Pearl and Maryam)

March 27th: Completion of the Project Documentations(by Cory)

Our team will be presenting our project to the clients and celebrating with all the clients and peers on the coming Monday (March 25th). We will still be controlling sure that all the implementations will be done by the expected time-frame  We are looking forward to showing the final result of the project.

Since the previous post in mid-February, our project team has been especially busy with updating and refining our design. To recap, the redefined scope of our project, as stated in the previous blog entry, is solely of design. It was decided between North Shore ConneXions and our group that a thorough and professional set of illustrations will be produced such that they may be used by another team for construction. This set of illustrations will include a 2D CAD drawing and a 3D SketchUp representation of the staircase.

Currently, the design, as shown in the figure in the previous blog post, was revamped to be clearer and to include more detail. In particular, the specifications of the wood members are shown and a top view of the loading area is added. This drawing by Sam will aid Shanshui in completing the 2D AutoCAD design. Once the CAD drawing is complete, the 3D SketchUp drawing will be rendered by Kanish. During these design stages, Maryam will continue to make sure that the design meets all North Vancouver, Vancouver, and BC Building Code requirements. Cory and Pearl will continue to be the client liaisons and update them with our progress as required. They will also gather any other information regarding the site.

 

 

In terms of concrete completion dates, they are as follows:

– March 12^th: AutoCAD Drawing (Shanshui)

– March 19^th: 3D SketchUp Drawing (Kanish)

– Ongoing: Meeting Building Code Requirements (Maryam)

– Ongoing: Correspondence with North Shore ConneXions (Cory and Pearl)

We hope that the final design package, including the refined SketchUp and AutoCAD Drawings will be completed by March 22^nd. Group meetings will continue to happen on a weekly basis to ensure all work is being done on time and to professional standards.

Hi all! The past two weeks were quite eventful for our project team. Following a pre-established timeline, the team learned, to a better degree, of the project expectations and the site specifics. As mentioned in our second blog post, replacing the existing staircase with a safer and more accessible one is of prime importance. Furthermore, our clients, the good folks over at NorthShore Connexions hope to install a stairlift to facilitate the physically restricted and this would require the staircase to be a little wider than the initial estimate of 5′.

Learning of the above mentioned constraints, the team launched into the design stage with enthusiasm. Sam and Shanshui led the design-brainstorming meetings. Multiple designs were sieved through a series of discussions to two principal designs. Since, the staircase has to be of a much gentler slope compared to that of the existing, the first and the most popular of design ideas was to utilize much of the available space along the adjacent wall and build a staircase spanning 16.5′ horizontally in a single flight of stairs from the ground up to the 8′ high landing. As the second principal design concept, it was proposed to span the 8′ height in two flights of stairs, each flight covering 16.5′, thereby softening the slope to the half of the former design concept. To decide between the two concepts, the Multi-Criteria Decision Making technique was used.

Having taken CIVL 201, the predecessor of CIVL 202, all of the six team members were aware of and had experience working with the “Multi-Criteria Decision Making” technique. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is a technique originating from operations research and is used commonly to quantify the viability of the proposed options in all important design aspects of the project. MCDM very efficiently resolves conflicting criteria that require evaluation in the process of making a decision. In the case of this project, the safety factor was given paramount importance while using the MCDM. The net project cost and construction time were the next important factors.

The MCDM process revealed the first design to be better suited to the requirements of the project. Although the latter design was relatively safer given itsmuch gentler slope, it caused exorbitant bloating of the budget. The main cause of this over-budgeting was the spiking of the stairlift installation cost at the junction of the two flights of stairs. Furthermore, the first design seemed cheaper and easier to construct. The hand sketch below illustrates the first principal and also the design selected through MCDM.

 

 

Upon the selection of the design, the designers raised concerns about the achievable safety factor through the modest construction knowledge and experience of the team members. Having learnt the skills and the process of design in CIVL 201 and other second year civil engineering courses, we were able to successfully narrow down to a safe design. However, due to the lack of any construction help and knowledge the safe execution of the design seemed a stretch beyond our abilities. This concern was put forward the client representatives Ms. Wendy Padwick and Justine Taylor. During the meeting with the clients, it was mutually agreed that because the safety of the structure is prime, a reduction in the scope of the project was warranted. Subsequently, it was decided to conclude the project with industry level technical drawings of the structure, which may later be used by another team to execute the safe construction of the project.

The next step calls for a revision of the existing timeline and redistribution of tasks. We hope to submit a package of technical drawings, including CAD and SketchUp drawings, by the end of the project timeline.

North Shore ConneXions is a non-profit, mainly government funded organization that advocates for better educational and social services for special needs children. For children, adults, and family with disabilities, NS ConneXions provides programs and services for an individual’s development. NS ConneXions also works in partnership with the local community to provide information and resources to citizens. The vision statement for NS Connexions is, “a community where all people with disabilities have equal opportunities to lead active, fulfilling lives and are recognized as contributing members of the community” (http://nsconnexions.org/about/mission-vision-philosophy). NS Connexions is attempting to promote acceptance and understanding in the community for each and every person.

CBEL … ?

Community Based Experiential Learning projects enables second year Civil engineering students at UBC to learn project management and professional communication through completing a project for a community organization.

 

Whats New This Year….

This year, we are thrilled to be working with North Shore ConneXions in reconstructing a staircase in their facility located in North Vancouver. The project consists of taking down an old staircase and relocating it to the adjacent wall to create a less steep staircase, all while reusing as much as the material from the old staircase as possible.

Who…? What…?

North Shore ConneXions Society is an organization dedicated to improving social and educational services for children with special needs. They provide valuable programs and services, which support the development and independence of adults, children and families. Their mission is to create a community where people with disabilities have the same opportunities in life as other people and they are acknowledged as contributing members of their community.

 

And We Are …..?

Our project group consists of 6 members: Maryam Abolghassem Tehrani, Pearl Ranchal, Cory Sutherland, Kanish Mathur, Sam Alexander McIlwain and Shanshui Ren. We will be working with Yu Wang, the team mentor and he will be providing us feedback and help, during the process. Below are short biographies of each of the team members:

 

Maryam Abolghassem Tehrani is a second year Civil Engineering student. She transferred to UBC last year From Columbia to continue her studies. After finishing her undergrad, she is planning on getting her Architecture degree and continue in that field.

Pearl Ranchal is a UBC engineering student. He has spent a year in the Electrical Engineering program at UBC and is now in the second year of pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering. Upon graduation, he intends to further his knowledge by attending graduate school.

Cory Sutherland is a UBC Civil Engineering student with an interest in real estate development. He is looking forward to working with North Shore Connexions Society.

Kanish Mathur is an undergraduate Civil Engineering student at UBC with an interest in construction. He hopes to pursue a career in structural engineering and looks forward to the completion of a successful project with the North Shore Connexions Society.

Sam Alexander McIlwain is a UBC Civil Engineering, originally from Invermere BC. He has an interest in both geotechnical and structural engineering, and is excited to help with the design and implementation of the staircase for North Shore Connexions.

Shanshui Ren is a second year Civil engineering student at the University of British Columbia. He is interested in structural engineering, and he is really looking forward to helping design a staircase for the North Shore Connexions.

 

In the past week …..?

We met each other to introduce ourselves and divide responsibilities within the group. Based on the mentor’s recommendation, we split into two groups of three. In each group, one person is assigned as the team leader (Pearl, Cory), one is in charge of sketching -either by hand or sketchup- (Sam, Shanshui) and the third person is to research the appropriate codes and bylaws for North Vancouver District (Maryam, Kanish).

On Jan 21, the mentor visited the facility (pictures below) and discussed the project with Mike Fricker and Wendy Padwick, Directors at North shore ConneXions. They gave us some specifications for the project:

• Dimension of the new staircase (5ft by 13 inches)
• Location of the new staircase (adjacent to the existing wall)
• Their need for a storage space beneath the staircase
• Possible addition of a stair lift in the future

 

    

 

We are excited to start our project as soon as possible and we look forward to work with North Shore Connexions.