A blog post by Mines Alumni Hannah Rhude
In the pilot year of the Timber-Strong Design Build (TSDB) Competition at the Rocky Mountain Regional Student Symposium, the Colorado School of Mines TSDB Competition Team faced no shortage of learning experiences coupled with chaos. The competition, aiming to promote timber design to future engineers for its sustainability and aesthetics, challenged students to create a 2 story light framed timber structure accompanied with a Building Information Model, structural calculations, sustainability calculations, and more. These structures would be pre-panelized and assembled at competition within a 90 minute time frame where it would be judged for time, aesthetics and accuracy when compared the submittals done prior to competition.
The team’s journey began at the senior design showcase in Fall of 2023, where the project caught the eye of many seniors in Civil Engineering, ultimately leading to a large 11 person team being formed to tackle the project. With a sprawling team of 11 members, many fresh to timber design, the initial challenge lay in harnessing diverse ideas and understandings into a cohesive vision. While the team was quick to work through this challenge, this was not the end of the troubles that lay ahead. Navigating through the less refined rules that accompany a young competition such as this one along with the teams overconfidence in the initial estimate of calculation production and fabrication times, the team persevered, learning invaluable lessons in construction, design and time management. Along with this, the team also learned the value of panelization in construction as in competition they were able to assemble the 2 story structure in just under an hour compared to the many days they had spent creating the panels prior. Their dedication paid off spectacularly. They clinched victory at the Rocky Mountain Student Symposium, sweeping both overall and BIM categories in the competition’s debut.
Following the competition, the structure found a new home with a delighted family who had been captivated by its charm at the senior design showcase this past spring. Two enthusiastic young girls stood eagerly planning their dream renovations, envisioning slides and playful additions to the timber masterpiece and the team knew it was meant to be (not to mention the bonus to the team of not having to tear it apart to be recycled). This unexpected journey from chaotic beginnings to triumphant success and heartfelt donation epitomized the spirit of collaboration, learning, and community that defined this year’s Timber-Strong Design Build Team.
A note beyond the narrative:
In the short length of this narrative I couldn’t find the perfect place, but I,along with the rest of the team, want to give a huge thanks to David Sparks, P.E. for his help, guidance and support during the entire design and build process. Without his expertise we truly would have been stranded so thank you again, David.