This past weekend I attended a civil engineering conference,
the Pacific South West Conference (PSWC) hosted by the University of Arizona, Tucson for the American Society of Civil Engineers. A number of
projects that compete at the PSWC include but are not limited to: concrete
canoe, steel bridge, dog-house, geo-wall and environmental design. All of these
projects have the obvious engineering component, but also have an aesthetics
part. The projects are ranked based on its combined engineering, performance
and appearance value.
Courtesy
of: http://www.cppasce.com/pswc-2015.html
One of the most aesthetically
obvious projects was the concrete canoe project. Besides the engineering design
decisions that are made about the concrete mix and reinforcement, the
appearance of the canoe must be considered. All teams stain their canoe based
on a theme. UCLA went with a medieval theme this year naming our canoe Arcturus
as seen below.
University
of California, Los Angeles
Depending on the theme, a number
of different staining patterns and colors can be used. With a limited time,
teams have to choose the tradeoff between time spent on the engineering aspect, the visual appeal and paddling practice. Although many stain designs have a very mathematical approach
to it, many also vary considerably and are seemingly purely creative. Despite UCLA’s
simpler stain design, UCLA took 2nd place overall out of 17 universities. A
number of other schools’ canoes design can be seen below.
University of Hawaii,
Manoa
University of
Arizona, Tuscon
University of
California, San Diego
University of
California, Irvine
Another project with a heavy aesthetics value is the dog
house project. The premise of this project is the design and fabrication of a
dog house with emphasize on sustainability. This means that the materials used
could be locally grown and meet local water/ nutrient standards. Similarly to
the canoe, each school had a themed dog house that had to be designed and
constructed artistically. Many dog houses were donated to a local animal
shelter upon completion of judging.
PSWC 2015: School
Unknown
PSWC 2015: School
Unknown
Although considered engineering feats, all of the projects
have an artistic aspect that is valued greatly. In this context, the engineering
provides safety and a usable product while the creativity and artistry proved
visual and emotional appeal. When engineering and art are combined, a
functional and beautiful product can be created.
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