2012 CANstruction

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Drew Gingrich

This year, I held a larger role in our company’s involvement with the annual “food drive” competition, cleverly named, CANstruction. This year, the theme was “Year of the Dairy Cow,” with the tagline “Celebrating the Hoosier Spirit.” It is always encouraged to try and incorporate this into the design if possible, but not necessarily mandatory.

This year, in our brainstorm session, we tried thinking along the lines of the “Got Milk?” slogan. A few minutes later and we are talking about the 2012 Olympics. Sure, we switched to something that was current right away, but let’s be honest, that’s usually what wins. Besides, athletes drink milk, so we are totally keeping with the theme.

There are several different awards to win, but it’s really the “people’s choice” that is the coveted prize.

This year, the awards are as follows:

· Best Meal
· Best Use of Labels
· Structural Ingenuity
· Juror’s Favorite
· People’s Choice
· Most Cans – New Award

Our design this year will include The American Flag, the Olympic Torch, and the Olympic Rings.

After sketching out some ideas on paper, we started modeling our project in Revit. I took on the bowl and rings while another team member designed the flag. At this point, we have no idea how this is going to work or be constructed, but we needed to start somewhere.

It took several long nights of diligent work to figure out how we were going to support our structure. The team decided that we would support certain layers of the model with a thin Masonite board. It took a lot of cutting and sanding with jig-saws to get each layer just right, in order so that they will not be seen, helping to support our can structure.

Lora and Brandon working hard, cutting out the Masonite layers

When build day finally arrives, our volunteers/co-workers make their way to the Indiana State Fair, to the agriculture and horticulture building, where our firm has an allotted space (10′X10′X8′) to build our structure. Our fellow competitors are local architecture firms that are all arranged in a tight row on some uneven concrete flooring. It is important when stacking cans, to be very aware of your surroundings – If not for your own clumsiness…sabotage.

It’s important that while stacking cans, everyone is very aware of their surroundings, so no one accidentally bumps into the structure. It’s a little frustrating in the beginning to get things planned out, but once you have a good foundation, it’s pretty easy after that.

Laying the foundation. Its very important that we figure out the bottom couple layers because they will be the starting point from which everything is resting on. It is especially difficult figuring out where the floor is most level to build on.&nb… — Laying the foundation. Its very important that we figure out the bottom couple layers because they will be the starting point from which everything is resting on. It is especially difficult figuring out where the floor is most level to build on.

Stacking the first couple rows for the flag. In this photo, you can also see our first layer of structure to help steady the cans as we stack multiple layers on top of one another.

Finished. Flag, Olympic rings, and Torch.

Superbowl XLVI - Indianapolis

Posted on January 26, 2012 by drewgingrich

The Super Bowl is a large event that attracts a lot of spectators every year. Thousands of people with different economic and social backgrounds will flood into the hosting city where they will give a boost the local economy; but for how long? And with the event being hosted in a new city each year, it also brings along with it, a flurry of excitement and a range of environmental and economic impacts.

The City of Indianapolis has been pouring a large amount of money into preparing the city to look its best for our Super bowl visitors. There have been numerous capital city improvements to roads, buildings, and parks, as well as clean-up efforts. Teams of people and artists have been putting either efforts into beautifying the city with murals, lights, graphics. The city has been adding flashy lights to trees in order to highlight areas like trendy Mass Ave. with bars and restaurants. Georgia Street has been completely re-designed to host a “Super bowl Village.” This will be a one-stop-shop for entertainment, shopping, and other festivities including a 70 foot high zip line through the air.

While this is all good and exciting, there are also a lot of unintended negative impacts that a hosting city will face. In a recent work e-mail, we were told to pay closer attention to our personal belongings because of suspected pick-pockets that will be visiting town just for Super Bowl. This seems to be a relatively minor and justifiable concern, but while a spike of crime has been seen in every hosting city around the time of the Super Bowl, the city of Indianapolis will still suffer the judgment from the victims of such crime.

http://www.ibj.com/police-will-watch-for-pickpockets-during-super-bowl/PARAMS/article/32103

Another concern with such a large event is the amount of trash generated, and I wonder what, if any strategies are currently in place to reduce and/or recycle our waste. I found one website claiming that the 4 days of Super Bowl events in 2004, generated nearly 428 tons of trash.

I think one of the most interesting things to think about is the end balance after calculating what has been invested into the city in preparation for this event, and how that relates to the long term costs associated with these investments after the quick spike in economic growth has passed. I wonder how many optimistic plans and investments will not be able to be sustained long term after the Super Bowl. I also wonder which investments (small or large) will pay off exponentially because of this Event. It’s hard to say for sure, but I think it’s important to be aware of the successes and failures of our investments and what they can tell us about either the hosting city, or the event itself.