Integrating Micro-House Design and Construction into the Construction Management and Engineering Curriculum
- Conference
- Location
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Salt Lake City, Utah
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2018
- Start Date
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June 23, 2018
- End Date
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July 27, 2018
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Construction Engineering
- Page Count
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8
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--30686
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/30686
- Download Count
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467
Paper Authors
Edwin R. Schmeckpeper Norwich University
Edwin Schmeckpeper, P.E., Ph.D., is the chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Management at Norwich University, the first private school in the United States to offer engineering courses. Norwich University was the model used by Senator Justin Morrill for the land-grant colleges created by the 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act. Prior to joining the faculty at Norwich University, Dr. Schmeckpeper taught at a land-grant college, the University of Idaho, and worked as an engineer in design offices and at construction sites.
John Edward Patterson Norwich University
PhD – The School of the Built Environment
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, Scotland
MSCM – Masters of Science – Construction Management
School of Architecture
Clemson University
Nadia Al-Aubaidy Norwich University
Dr. Nadia Al-Aubaidy is an Assistant Professor at the David Crawford School of Engineering at Norwich University and a Board Member at Vermont Green Building Network. Before joining her Ph.D. program, she worked as a Deputy Resident Engineer for the US. Army Corps of Engineers. She obtained her doctorate in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Al-Aubaidy is certified by the Center for Policy Dispute Resolution at The University of Texas School of Law. She was also the President of the Central Texas Section of AACE-International, 2013 – 2014. She served as an Education Board Member of AACE-International (formerly the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering) from 2012-2016.
Abstract
Integrating Micro-House Design and Construction into the Construction Management and Engineering Curriculum
This paper shows how micro-house design and construction projects are integrated into the curriculum in the University’s Engineering and Construction Management programs.
The University’s Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Management programs’ first full-scale house design and construction projects involved a solar powered lab and a solar powered house. During these two projects, the various Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Management programs collaborated for the first time, integrating students from the various disciplines into a single project team. The Micro-House Related Design/Construction Projects, shown in Table 1, reflect the University’s institutional support of experiential learning. Lessons learned from the design and construction of each project were used to refine the projects for subsequent years.
Table 1: University Micro-House Related Design/Construction Projects Project Size Date Embarc – Solar Powered Lab 160 sq.ft. 2010-2011 Rae(v) – Solar Decathlon Prototype 1100 sq.ft 2010-2012 Solar Decathlon 988 sq.ft 2012-2013 NHS Outdoor Classroom 576 sq.ft 2014-2015 CASA 802 Micro-House 336 sq.ft. 2015-2016 Wheel Pad Micro-House 204 sq.ft. 2016 Fontaine Mills Micro-House 288 sq.ft. 2016-2017 CASA 802.1 Micro-House 240 sq.ft. 2017-2018 MES Outdoor Classroom 224 sq.ft. 2017-2018 Race to Zero Multi-Family House 800 sq.ft/unit 2017-2018
The University’s Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Management programs have taken the experience obtained from working on these projects and have integrated design and construction work into their respective curricula. For example, the Construction Management curriculum has incorporated aspects of the Micro-House Design/Construction projects into several courses distributed throughout the curriculum: Specifications and Estimating, Building Information Modeling, Construction Productivity, Construction Safety, Structural Aspects of Construction, and Project Management. Similarly, both the Civil Engineering and Architecture programs have incorporated aspects of the Micro-House Design/Construction projects into their curricula.
This use of Micro-House Design/Construction projects in the curriculum exposes students to material that is realistic, but not of overwhelming scope. The students are given assignments that are manageable, and that increase in scope and complexity over the course of a student’s academic career. As a particular project progresses over time, students will be involved in the estimation, purchasing, planning, management, and finally the construction of a micro-house. Finally, the students get to have hands-on experience along with their academic coursework, which is key for improving both student learning and retention.
Schmeckpeper, E. R., & Patterson, J. E., & Al-Aubaidy, N. (2018, June), Integrating Micro-House Design and Construction into the Construction Management and Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30686
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