Journalist

My job was to be the journalist.  We interviewed contractors, engineers, and other people in our community with building experience.  I interviewed Tom Ochs, of Hoffman Ochs, and Randy Jacobs, a general contractor in town.  With my teams input we came up with these questions to ask when we were interviewing:

How do you use geometry in architecture?

Do the materials you are provided with change your approach to the constructing process?

How do you account for excessive amount of weight compounded on top?

What shape is the strongest for building?

How would you suggest making a 9 inch tall manila folder structure that will hold a lot of weight?

Overall the responses I got from both of my interviews were very similar.  They both said that they are almost always are using geometry in their jobs.  I learned that the materials we work with do influence our designs.  "We have different methods for constructing something from concrete verses wood.  But when you talk about construction the most important influence comes from the site.  We change materials and designs to accommodate soil conditions, subdivision restrictions, local taste, and the best view from the property, just to name a few decisions."-Tom Ochs.  When accounting for an excessive amount of weight they try to make the joist or trusses small or thicker. 

a normal floor might be as follows: ___________________               a heavy floor load might be: _______________________  (floor)

                                                             I        I        I        I                                                                 I     I     I     I     I     I (trusses)

I also learned that triangles were the strongest shape and is used throughout the construction process in all kinds of locations.  Tom Ochs suggested that for our structure we folded up our folders to make little trusses like the inside of a piece of cardboard, which we did.

Our structure was well designed to meet the height and weight criteria.  It was wide and and not tall, so that helped when putting on the weights.  Some benefits of our design was that the edges of our structure was well insulated, with corrugation (like the inside of a piece of cardboard.)  I also think that it was a smart idea to have our structure in the shape of a triangle.  Some of the weaknesses of our design was that our corners weren't supported well and I don' think that everything was the same height.  I also think that it would have helped if we had put the weights more in the middle.  The weights were on one side more than another so the weight wasn't distributed evenly, and this is why it fell to the one side.

Our structure held 360 pounds.

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrugated_fiberboard