The clock is ticking, and our team is actively working to finish our design for submission!

Many competing teams are made up of graduate students and have far more resources and team members than our rag tag bunch. In comparison, many sub-teams on our project are really only one person! The Electrical, Plumbing, Building Codes, Energy Modeling, Heating, and Ventilation are all done by individuals who must rise to the challenge on their own. While we are perhaps understaffed, our team has made up for it with dedication and a healthy (or perhaps unhealthy!) love of hard work. Our project in its early stages already demonstrated a level of professionalism and thoughtfulness that we hope will rival large institutions. I cannot help but be proud of the hard work that we put in, and the speed with which our team members have learned new software and trade skills.

Luckily, our team does have a few late additions, in particular Javier del Cid and Alex Carlson who will be helping out with our financial analysis. Tracking the financial feasibility of the building is of course an essential task, and not an easy one at that! Their assistance is especially welcome as we approach the deadline.

In the last week, our architecture team has finalized floor plans and passed on the torch to the MEP and interior teams to finish up interior renderings and finals HVAC schematics. With a set layout, both groups can begin adding in the final nuts and bolts to our system specifications. It is exciting to see the final pieces come together and humbling to acknowledge our progress so far. The next week will be busy, but I know that our team will rise to meet the challenge!

 

-Alex ’18 Building Codes / Plumbing / Electrical