Partnering without boundaries: Integrating structures, architecture, practice, and education

A college wide, studio-based engineering and design course is used as the mechanism for learning, experimentation, and exploration of the built environment. Student teams partner with design professional mentors to create viable solutions for real world projects. Students address architectural, structural, environmental, and construct-ability issues. For the highlighted project, students integrated laboratory research and fundamental engineering principles to develop building designs which recognized current building technology, sustainability, and cultural issues for a polytechnic college in rural Tanzania; then based on the design proposals, constructed a building proto-type. The school motto is "Learn by Doing" and with projects such as the polytechnic, students engage with professionals during design and then experience the nuances of building; tolerances, connectivity, and sequencing. Aspects of the building process which cannot be replicated in the classroom.