Closing Discussion

This semester long project has been a good one for a number of reasons, most importantly it increased our learning of the subject matter in class. The site walk throughs were meant to back up what we were talking about in class and they did so very well, as long as you visited the correct sites. There are many construction projects going on on campus at any given time and each one represents a unique part of the trade. The Signature Engineering building offered us a look into excavation, cut and fill, and structural concrete with deep foundation systems and caissons. The Performing Arts Center allowed us an insight into deep foundation systems, concrete walls and floors, and most importantly how the contractor dealt with issues that arose on site. The ASA building offered an insight into many different things depending on when you observed it this semester; they were doing structural and the masonry facade early in the year; they were working on installing glazing and doors; they were installing interior walls and ceilings; they were installing and finishing drywall; the casework and other finishes were being installed at the end of the semester; and the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, fire safety, and data was being installed during the end of the semester. The structures design/building project on Tom's Creek represented a look into wood framing and stick building on site, we also got a chance to look at headers, jack studs, king studs, and cripple studs like we had talked about in class. There are many other construction projects going on on campus that cover these same topics that I had the chance to watch come together. I am a firm believer in experience being the best learning tool and I think this opportunity to observe sites and even walk around some of them gave us all a great opportunity to increase our knowledge of the trade.

Another of the benefits of this project was that if we ran into questions or issues when we were were doing these walk throughs we had the opportunity to go to class and ask Dr. McCoy about his perspective on our questions. I don't think i have any outstanding questions from this semester as we did a very good job covering each of the different topics in class through the lectures.

I will continue to watch these sites come together throughout next semester and am interested to see how they come about and what issues they may run into. Maybe I'll even keep this blog up to date instead of letting it get lost into the endless void of the internet. I would like to think that what I've learned this semester will allow me to one day building something like the LumenHaus in all its technological and architectural wonder.

Thanks for a wonderful semester to all those that made it so good.