Hand in is looming for the 2nd years, next week Tuesday to be exact (02 April), and I am a lot happier with the progress that the 2nd years have made to this point. Perhaps today being the final crit session has something to do with it. Otherwise the past recess week drew the team to a slump, owing to the nation-wide load shedding, which lasted four hours at a time, twice a day.
After an e-mail sent to the team and their lecturer cc-ed, they caught a jolted wake up and started prioritizing the project and being punctual for crits. It had to be done, the excuses were getting more and more daring. I have seen improvements in the teams:
Annotations
Moving from one tiresome paragraph with one leader pointing to only one of the materials mentioned on the sonnet to breaking down and separating the materials and giving them individual leaders. Not only that but also learning that annotating is not random rambling but comprises of a structure where one includes size, material, configuration, function, and finally fixing method.
Draughting
The difference between misinterpreting the construction of a certain connection and having a beautifully draughted drawing. The team has come to learn that no two lines ever touch ("oh no but its behind the thick line next to it") nor intersect at any point. I told the team that in between any two lines should be a legible gap regardless of the line weights used. That is the mark of a great draughtsman. The Midas touch...the the the...bells and whistle, you see.
Construction
This the part I intentionally paid close attention to. The first two weeks of the project were purely just looking at the construction of the connections, I literally only started looking at annotations on Tuesday. Because the project is intended to teach the 2nd years the fundamentals of lightweight construction, I decided the house will not consist of a single brick but rather structural steel frame construction, regardless of what the actual Architect decided to do.
Anyways... The team has learned quite a lot about steel lightweight construction, particularly nomenclature: column, beam, rail, stud, rafter, truss, brandering, bracket, steel section configurations, handrail, stanchion/baluster, etc. All that followed by function (difference between hot and cold rolled steel) and the different fixing methods; welding, bolting, screwing, nailing, pop riveting, and most importantly how what material determines what fixing method is used.
And oh! The waterproofing! The most important consideration of all, from where to waterproof to what to waterproof with and why. I has been a whole learning experience for both the team and myself. As an office simulation project, it has been a success.
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