The Spring 2015 Design / Build Senior Capstone Project took place Wednesday, May 6, 2015 in Bishop-Favrao Hall. The 2015 capstone project scope included the design and construction of a new single-story dining facility at Fort Meade in Maryland. The structure would accommodate 800 persons in three sittings per day. Student proposals included a technical proposal that was evaluated on facility design, site design, a facility engineering narrative, schedules, and project management, as well as a cost proposal and a small business subcontracting plan. As a final requirement, students prepared an introductory session with posters and project animations prior to presenting final design and construction solutions to industry board members, BC / MLSoC faculty, and guests.
The Red Team took first place and team members included Joshua Morris, Kyle Perry, Melissa Peebles, Justin Kyriazi, and Merrielle Schreck. Their design deviated from a more traditional approach while creating interesting architectural forms and a varied dining experience. The team's use of dynamic 3-D graphics and animations enhanced and supported their message and the overall strength of their WOW presentation were the intangibles that set them apart.The Blue Team took second place and team members included Rhen Brooks, Kyle Ryder, Justin Fowler, Ira Futterknecht, Colin King, and Tyler Edwards. The Blue Team offered 3-D animations, 3-D floor plans, a completed LEED Checklist, and a more realistic cost estimate to score a few more points and win the second place award.
Dr. Thabet notes that all teams including gold, maroon, and orange performed to the highest quality and standards for the spring semester of delivering a design build project.
The department would like to thank Forrester Construction for sponsoring the Spring 2015 Capstone presentation and awards. The department would also like to thank Victor Bonardi for providing input and feedback to the design build teams and acting as interim reviewer during semester deliverable milestones.
We end with a quote offered to us by Vic Bonardi.
"On behalf of Forrester Construction Company, I want to once again thank the Department of Building Construction at Virginia Tech for their outstanding curriculum, and for maintaining a dynamic and engaging program for developing the construction industry leaders of the future. Based on these results of this program, and students of this caliper, we are confident that the construction industry of tomorrow will be in excellent hands."
