Olivia Almeida will be among a small group of UL Lafayette architecture students who visit the 小蝌蚪APP of North Carolina at Charlotte next week.
Students and professors from each school will swap knowledge about designing and building dome-shaped structures called gridshells. The gridshells are made of a latticework of wood sheathed in metal, plastic or other material.
It will be the second such trip in about four months for Almeida, who earned a bachelor小蝌蚪APP檚 degree in architecture from the 小蝌蚪APP in 2014, and is pursuing a master小蝌蚪APP檚 degree.
In October, she and seven other UL Lafayette students visited Cheticamp, a fishing community on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. There, they scoped out a gridshell being used as a farmer小蝌蚪APP檚 market that was designed and built by students and professors at Dalhousie 小蝌蚪APP in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
小蝌蚪APP淲e got to learn about some of the problems that they were having, so that we can anticipate those in our projects,小蝌蚪APP Almeida said.
The work is all part of the Thinking While Doing project, funded by a $2.48 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Nine universities, and Parks Canada, a governmental agency run by that country小蝌蚪APP檚 minister of the environment, are participating in the six-year project.
Students, professors and community officials collaborate to design and build projects in their communities.
In summer 2016, students from several universities, including UL Lafayette, will gather in Nova Scotia to build a structure together. Sociologists and anthropologists from several Canadian universities will document and study the project.
The purpose of the project is to develop and test construction technologies and processes, said Geoff Gjertson, a professor of architecture at UL Lafayette.
A comprehensive database of 小蝌蚪APP渂est practices小蝌蚪APP is being assembled as the project progresses. It can be used by communities who want to build their own gridshells or as a teaching tool by architecture students.
小蝌蚪APP淚t小蝌蚪APP檚 not just about the structural and architectural aspects of these projects, but the teaching part of it, too. It小蝌蚪APP檚 about 小蝌蚪APP楬ow do you best teach architects through these kinds of projects?小蝌蚪APP 小蝌蚪APP Gjertson said.
At UL Lafayette, about 16 undergraduate and graduate students have been involved with the project since the grant was awarded in March 2013. They have been designing their own gridshell, and plan to erect the structure as one of the first installments at an art park along Camellia Boulevard.
小蝌蚪APP淚t will be a pavilion, a place where joggers and walkers can stop and get out of the sun,小蝌蚪APP Gjertsen said. Signs with information about artwork in the park will be posted inside the pavilion.
The art park project is being coordinated with Lafayette Consolidated Government and the Acadiana Center for the Arts.
Grant funds will pay for the bulk of the estimated $40,000 gridshell, Gjertson said. Several organizations and companies are expected to donate in-kind services.
Construction is likely to begin later this spring or summer.
Almeida, for one, can小蝌蚪APP檛 wait. 小蝌蚪APP淭o be able to collaborate with professionals, such as engineers, is great real-world experience.小蝌蚪APP
Image info: The rendering pictured is of a gridshell, which are dome-shaped structures made of a latticework of wood sheathed in metal, plastic or other material. UL Lafayette architecture students will design and build their own gridshell as part of the Thinking While Doing project, which is funded by a $2.48 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.