The spring semester is wrapping up, graduation is quickly approaching and seniors completed their Spring 2018 Design / Build Senior Capstone Project. The Spring 2018 capstone project scope of work included a full services Design Build proposal for the redevelopment of the infield at Richmond International Raceway. This includes the demolition of infield existing facilities, new garages, garage support areas and operational spaces, club or hospitality place, new media center, new fan zone, new pedestrian tunnel and other additional features. Teams had to provide a design solution, construction solution and a cost estimate for design and construction. Upon completion, they presented their solutions to the industry board members, Myers-Lawson School of Construction faculty, and guests.
The current infield renovation of the Richmond International Raceway began in September 2017 and will be completed mid - September of 2018 by Barton Malow. Team New York placed first in the competition which consisted of Erin Mizak, Alex Hauser, Hunter Voegele, Billy Schwanke and Becca Lachman. “We utilized the specs given to us to create a ‘funnel effect’ where the pedestrians enter a fan zone that is shaped like a funnel. They are funneled into the garages to interact with the drivers and can walk down to check out new optical scanning inspections and look into the media center to check out race day interviews. Next, they can loop around the garages to check out the haulers and enter back into the fan zone,” Becca Lachman said. Their bid came in around $29,000,000. Team California came in second place which consisted of Emily Lewandowski, Kyle Coyne, Cuyler Matteson, Joseph Keffler, Matthew Thompson and Aidan Malligan.
All competing teams presented high quality work. The involvement of the industry board members, faculty and guests is greatly appreciated by all. “Capstone is a lot of work, but it is very rewarding. Our team felt like we learned a lot and can use this information in our future careers. We are very grateful to win this year’s competition and want to say good luck to next years’ seniors,” Lachman said. The department would like to thank Barton Malow for sponsoring the project.
