2015-2016 Senior Capstone

Team Members: Omran Alhazmi, Devin Drake, Chris Vavrica, 

Cara Itai, Amy Kryston

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Silliman 

Sponsor: Gonzaga University Center for

 Engineering Design & Entrepreneurship 

Center for Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship

Civil Engineering Department Student Project

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Design of Classroom Building Alternatives for Adourekoman, Benin, West Africa

Due Wednesday, October 14, 2015

CEDE - CIVIL ENGINEERING REQUESTS A STUDENT PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR THE FOLLOWING PROJECT:

 THE COMMUNITY OF ADOUREKOMAN, BENIN, HAS REQUESTED ASSISTANCE IN DEVELOPING TWO TO FOUR POSSIBLE DESIGNS FOR A THREE-CLASSROOM SCHOOL BUILDING TO INCREASE THE CAPACITY IN THEIR EXISTING PRIMARY SCHOOL.  OF PARTICULAR INTEREST IN DESIGN IS PROVIDING ADDITIONAL LIGHT TO THE CLASSROOMS WHILE MAINTAINING PROTECTION FROM WIND AND RAIN (THERE IS NO ELECTRICITY IN ADOUREKOMAN).

 

AS PART OF THIS PROJECT, AN ANALYSIS OF THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF EXISTING CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES MUST BE ASSESSED RELATIVE TO THE PROPOSED, AS WELL AS THE EXISTING, DESIGNS.  OF PARTICULAR INTEREST IS THE TRADEOFF BETWEEN THE COST OF CONSTRUCTION (PRIMARILY IN TERMS OF REQUIRED MATERIALS) VERSUS RISK (FINANCIAL AND LIFE-RISK) ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRCUTURE DURING BOTH CONSTRUCTION AND LONG-TERM USE.   

 

 

 

SUMMARY INFORMATION

Due Wednesday, October 14, 2015, before 4:00 PM PST

 

One digital copy in pdf format uploaded to the FolioTek server

 

Project Sponsor:

Gonzaga University, School of Engineering and applied Science

 

Project Liaison:

Dr. Steve Silliman, Dean

 

Project Description:

The CEDE - Civil Engineering Department is requiring a proposal from the group of student engineers to provide comprehensive engineering diagrams of potential designs for the new classroom building for Adourekoman, Benin.   These designs must address optimization of natural light within the classrooms, protection of the classrooms from the natural elements (wind and rain), and assessment of strengths, as well as risks, related to cement block quality and current building construction methods.

 

Efforts consist of four topic areas.

1.)   Consideration of strength, as well as limitations, of the design used in current classroom buildings.  Strengths and weaknesses should be considered from standpoints of both utility of the classroom environment and avoidance of risk (specifically, collapse).

2.)  Assessment of current practice in terms of quality of mix of concrete, construction of concrete blocks, continuity of concrete quality / concrete pours, use of rebar, and use of cross bracing.

3.)  Demonstration designs—two to four alternative school layouts of a three classroom building will be prepared, along with the required designs for the important building details.  All dimensions must be provided in both English and Metric units.

4.)  Economic and Political considerations – This country has a low economic activity, and designs must acknowledge this reality.  The project will complete economic evaluations of construction costs, increase in utility of the learning environment, risk, and methods to reduce barriers to adoption.

 

Project activities will result in the preparation of reports, calculations, drawings and presentations that accomplish the tasks given in the scope. Communication with partners in Benin will be required.

 

The project will also require the implementation of project management techniques in the completion of the engineering efforts, including interaction with the community partners, liaisons, project advisors, specific activities for monitoring effort and progress, updating the project schedule, preparing status reports, and gathering information required for design at the site and from appropriate regulatory agencies.

 

PROPOSAL EVALUATION PROCESS

The proposal evaluation process will be determined by the project advisor in conjunction with the CEDE, the project sponsor, and the CEDE Design Advisory Board.  It will be based on the organization of the project efforts reflected in the proposal and the educational goals achieved in the completion of the proposal.  Note that some efforts in the project are oriented to achieve educational goals that are not required to achieve the project sponsors goals.

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The village of Adourekoman, Benin, houses a primary school that serves the regional community.  The village wishes to construct a new classroom building (3 classrooms) that will replace one of their old buildings.  They have requested that Gonzaga engineering students create detailed plans for two to four options for this new building, including details on dimensions, materials, construction methods, etc.  The effort must include assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of the current building design in comparison to 1-3 alternative designs.  Design requirements include drawings and important details for 2-4 possible designs (including the current design) meeting the community goals of enhanced natural lighting in the educational environment, along with protection from elements and assessment of risk of failure (during construction or during use).

 

As a component of this work, the student team must consider risks (risk of failure, loss of life, financial loss, etc.) associated with current practices related to quality of building materials, construction methods, and design.  Specifically, recent evidence collected by visits to Benin indicate both that existing buildings generally perform as expected, but that catastrophic collapse can and does occur.  The team must determine whether estimates of risk (risk of failure, loss of life, financial loss, etc) can be estimated for the current building methods.

  

PROJECT INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM PROJECT PARTNERS

The project liaison is able to support the project with the local, specific knowledge needed to properly address this effort. In addition various other political entities will be involved.

 

STUDENT PROJECT ACTIVITIES REQUIRED

The student project group will, at a minimum, provide the following efforts and deliverables in the completion of the project addressed in this proposal:

 

Scope of Activities Required to Meet Project Goals

 

Task 100                          Project Management and Coordination

The student group shall organize, manage and coordinate the efforts required to accomplish the project using standard project management and contract administration techniques. Key management activities are identified below:

 

          Sub-Task 110                   Kick-off Meeting

The Student Team will conduct a kickoff meeting with their project advisor and sponsor liaison's to gain familiarity for the project and to solicit input, gather available data and information.

 

          Sub-Task 120                   Routine progress-review meetings

Routine progress-review meetings will be conducted on a regular basis. Weekly progress reports are required and are to be submitted electronically to the advisor by 5:00 pm each Thursday. Weekly progress reports must include, at a minimum, activities completed by each team member for the current week, expected work for the upcoming week, and updates to the project design budget and schedule.

 

In addition, a complete hardcopy record of the project reports and files must be maintained by the student team and be made readily available during consultations with the advisor. Typical method would be a project notebook. The advisor and liaison will ask to review this notebook periodically to discover the status of the work being completed. 

 

          Sub-Task 130                   Regular Advisor and Liaison Meetings

After the kick-off meeting, the Student Team will have routine work sessions to accomplish deliverables. 

 

All meetings with advisor and liaison MUST be arranged by members of the Student Team at least 2 days in advance of the meeting. The Project Manager will send a meeting agenda and the minutes from the previous meeting to the advisor, project partners, and liaison at least 2 days prior to the meeting.  All meetings must be documented by the Student Team in the form of meeting minutes with action items identified and who will be responsible for that action.

 

          Sub-Task 140         Quality Assurance/Quality Control

The Student Team will perform a methodical QA/QC effort in a manner suitable to the project advisor and liaison, to prevent incorrect, sub-standard or dangerous results from being included in the end of semester project reports.

 

          Sub-Task 150         Project Schedule / WBS /Gantt Chart and Project Budget

The proposal must contain a Gantt chart that shows the due dates from the CEDE schedule as milestones, each sub-task, the duration of time proposed to complete the subtask and the team member responsible for the subtask. The Gantt chart will show at least the end date for the subtask (start date, duration are possible) dependent tasks.

 

The student group will include a “proposed” budget that details the costs of completing the project design tasks. This budget is not the “engineers construction cost estimate” to complete the implementation of the design; rather, it is the costs to perform the engineering tasks and includes the fictitious value of project team personnel hours. The value of the personnel hours and direct costs (travel, books, and models) will be the proposed budget and will simulate the budget a consulting group would charge to complete the project.

 

Task 100 Deliverables

• Electronic copy of agenda for team meetings.
• Electronic updates to project design budget and schedule that includes budget and personnel hours for each sub-task in the entire project.
• Electronic copy of resolutions and action items for each meeting.
• Statement on the QA/QC activities for reports submitted at the end of each semester to describe the review and checking procedure employed.

 

Task 200 Project Data Collection

Participate in collection of data related to project area.

 

Work collaboratively with partners and regulatory agencies’ staff to develop project data suitable for a preliminary design.  Data may include climate, soils, geology, site survey, economic information and other data.  Proposal submitted is to identify data needs and collection methods for project.

           Sub-Task 210                  Collect Climate, Geological, Physical and Land use Data  

Collect and maintain a record of information gathered to support evaluation. 

 

           Sub-Task 220                  Collect Information from Political and Governmental Programs Applicable to the Project

Collect and maintain a record of information gathered to incorporate users’ needs and governmental needs into evaluation. Communication with partners in Benin will be required.

 

Task 200 Deliverables

• Electronic copy of data and mapping, reports or surveys completed for the project and to be included in the project report.

 

 

Task 300 Evaluation of Building Materials

The student team will identify, analyze, compare and evaluate materials either currently used or suggested for use for construction.

 

          Sub-Task 310  Building Material Assessment

Perform a literature review of masonry or other materials to be used in construction and any literature on common practice in developing countries.  Justification must be provided for any material alternatives suggested in evaluation.  All materials will be available in Benin.

 

           Sub-Task 320  Use Systematic Evaluation Methods to Compare Materials  

Perform an evaluation of material alternatives using a suitable multi-criteria matrix method.

 

Task 300 Deliverables

• Electronic copy of data and analysis and evaluations, completed to be included in the project report.

 

Task 400   Construction Methods and Requirements    

Determine specific requirements for all construction methods, including assessment of loading (both during and post construction) and construction variability. Make reasonable predictions of what construction methods and equipment would be required for use of alternative materials.

 Task 400 Deliverables

• Electronic copy of data and analysis and evaluations, completed to be included in the project report

 

Task 500 Demonstration Designs   

The student team will develop a set 2-4 demonstration designs that meet the goals of feasibility for adoption, increased natural light in the learning environment, and protection from the natural environment.  The designs will show principle features of engineering requirements and floor plans. Structural requirements will be indicated but may not have complete details (bolts, welds, etc.) The specifics will be determined by the team in the project proposal document.

 

          Sub-Task 510  Prepare Floor Plans and Elevations

Prepare AutoCAD drawings of 2 - 4 floor plans.

 

          Sub-Task 520  Structural Design

Prepare structural calculations and sizing with major features for each floor plan.

 

          Sub-Task 530  Design for Project Objectives

Prepare assessment document demonstrating the degree to which each of the proposed designs meets project requirements for classroom dimensions, natural light, and protection from environmental conditions.

 

Task 500 Deliverables

•  Electronic copy of drawings, design calculations, calculations, data and analysis and evaluations, completed to be included in the project report.

 

Task 600 Risk Evaluation  

Based on specific design and construction strategies, evaluate potential risks (building failure, loss of life, financial, etc.) associated with each design suggested in Task 500. Specific information for the project will be established in the proposal document, but must include:

a)    Describe the potential variability and construction associated with each design / likely construction methods in Adourekoman. 

b)    Describe the social benefits of using currently existing, versus suggested alternative, material and construction practices. 

c)     Outline potential risks associated with construction methods. 

 

Task 600 Deliverables

• Electronic copy of data and analysis and evaluations, completed to be included in the project report

 

Task 700  Project Economic Evaluation  

Prepare a section of the design report that identifies issues that are related to the overall costs of the demonstration designs. The considerations may include savings from reduced probability of failure, and higher satisfaction as offsetting any increased construction costs.

 

          Sub-Task 710  Summary of Political Impacts

Summarize impacts from governmental / non-governmental programs.

 

Task 700 Deliverables

• Electronic copy of data and analysis and evaluations, completed to be included in the project report

 

Task 800   Project Reports and Presentations  

The project team is required to prepare and present on the progress of the project. 

 

Task 800 Deliverables

•  Specific information to be placed into proposal document.