Members of the DLA Team are once again participating in the 10th annual U-46 CAD/PLTW (Computer-Assisted Design/Project Lead The Way) Competition.
Earlier in the school year, students were introduced to a fictional client with a laundry list of what they wanted from their new building. 18 teams of students from Elgin, Larkin, South Elgin, Streamwood and St. Charles North high schools then got to work on the design.
From here, the teams developed the plans for an education center complete with observation tower. They were instructed to integrate the building into its environment, near a lake in a forested area, and include features such as walking paths. They were required to include important design aspects such as handicap-accessibility. For the first time, they were also asked to consider some of the engineering aspects as their design, such as the weight load a roof puts on a support wall.
The students put together 5-minute presentations to support their concept, including architectural elevations mounted on display boards, PowerPoint shows to highlight key elements of their projects, and even a scale model.
This week the students pitched their concepts to a team of judges, including our own Eric Sickbert, Gary Stanley, Shannon Baird and Peter Pontarelli. Bob Nielsen, a project manager with Henry Bros. Co. also participated. The judges are now compiling their scores.
For more info, check out a great post on Bocajump at: http://elgin.bocajump.com/Articles/students-vie-for-architectureengineering-prizes
