Trip to Washington, DC 3/19/2010-3/21/2010
I took a weekend trip to Washington, DC in late March of 2010. This trip was presented as a purely educational experience. The amount of knowledge that I gained from this was astronomical, I was given the opportunity to see what I was learning in the classroom and how the engineers decisions affect certain aspects of a project, both for the better and the worse. The trip began early Friday morning as I boarded a bus and traveled to the Washington, DC area. On Friday we had the opportunity to visit two of Clark Constructions job sites. We visited a foundation excavation that was occurring at 1000 Connecticut Avenue, this site gave me experience on how an engineers design can affect the surrounding buildings as well as how a cramped site can effect the site logistics of a project. We then boarded the bus and drove to Alexandria, Virginia; here Clark Construction was working on a large project for the government. At Seminary Road and I-395 the Washington Headquarters for several of the governmental offices with ties to the Pentagon was being built. This site was truly nice to experience because of the tremendous amount of activity that was happening simultaneously. The buildings exterior curtain wall was going on, while inside on the various upper floors all the mechanical and electrical rough-ins were being installed. On the lower floors many of the interior partitions were being completed. Unfortunately due to government restrictions I was not allowed to have my camera for this visit. The next visit for the evening was to the Sidwell Friends School, this school is a middle school located at 3825 Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, DC. To emphasize the reputation of this school and its' rich history we should note that this is the school that President Obama sends his children too. More than that though this school was the first middle in the country to ever receive a LEED rating. The school had an amazing amount of features which allowed it to reach a LEED rating of Platinum. The school is currently working on a new gymnasium that will be build partially below grade and have a entirely new "green" playing field on the roof. This is not technically a green roof because the surface material will be made out of an astro turf like material, although it will collect and recycle the rainwater it will not have living plants on the roof to give back to the environment. This new addition is trying to achieve a LEED Gold Rating. Seeing how to integrate LEED design with a school setting was very useful for my experience. To finish off the evening the group was treated to dinner by many of the Clark Construction representatives that we had a chance to meet that day. This gave me a great opportunity for some networking.
Fridays Pictures:
Fridays Pictures:
Saturday proved to be a very long day, the day began with a trip to the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Headquarters. This building is a Platinum rated LEED building. The USGBC went through many things to try to attain this rating. We were given a tour of their state of the art office space, which keyed on many features, such as the high efficiency lighting and daylighting. As well as the wall coverings and how they constructed and use some of their kitchen space. For a better description of many things that were used in this office space please click on any pictures of interest below for the corresponding description. That afternoon we had the opportunity to conduct individual research and visit some sites of our own interest around the National Mall. With my free time I wanted to see the architecture of the Capital Building as well as the White House. I went to the Capital Building but it was the Saturday before the Health Care Reform Bill was voted into law. After seeing the very large group of protesters on the steps of the Capital Building I decided that getting up close to observe the details of the structure and architecture was not very smart. In order to avoid the crowd I went north to see the National Building Museum. The museum did not allow photos to be taken while inside of an exhibit, but you will see many photos of the building itself. The building that housed the National Building Museum was a museum piece of its' own. With various classical orders, all integrated into the large atrium. After seeing all the exhibits at the museum I walked down to the White House. This was once again the site of a very large protest, except this time the protesters were protesting the United States involvement in the war on terror. With the remaining few minutes I found joined a game of ultimate frisbee in the National Mall. After dinner and later that evening I visited many of the monuments around the DC area. This gave me the opportunity to see how the lighting designers used the lights in the memorial to affect the viewer. This was done in many different ways and with many different effects, you can click on the monument pictures below to see a description of the picture and/or design.
Saturdays Pictures:
Saturdays Pictures:
Sunday was our final day in the Nations Capital, we had the privilege and opportunity to take in a service at the National Cathedral. This gave me the opportunity to see how the things I was learning in my acoustics class have been applied in a large room with varying sources (i.e. the organ, the preachers voice, and the choir). I got to hear how the same space was able to meet the different acoustical atmospheres and how it performed in each of these scenarios. Below you will see some of the pictures that were taken throughout the day and their corresponding captions to explain what I am trying to point out within the picture.
Sundays Pictures:
Sundays Pictures:
