Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Architecture, engineering students collaborate on shell structures on Quad

Thursday, February 17, 2011, By News Staff
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Science

Students of the special topics course “Shell Structures” conducted an experiment building ‘hanging forms’ in the Kenneth A. Shaw Quad outside the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, on Tuesday, Feb. 15. “Shell structures,” ACR 500-6/ECS 500-3, is an interdisciplinary course funded by the National Science Foundation, aimed at fostering dialogue and collaboration between architecture and engineering students. And ‘hanging forms’ is but one of a series of experiments conducted by the students.

The course studies shell structures as an instance where architecture aesthetics and engineering solutions converge perfectly. “In shells, the thing you see and the thing that holds the building are one and the same. And you need both engineering and architecture to make them work,” says Sinead MacNamara, assistant professor of structural engineering in the School of Architecture, instructor for the course and an engineer herself.

Under the guidance of MacNamara and assistant professor Clare Olsen, students created hanging forms, the idea being that a form that works in pure tension, when flipped over and inverted, results in a form that works in pure compression. Six teams of three students each used a rudimentary combination of fabric, water, wood and nails to build the forms.

For participating students, the interdisciplinary nature of the project was especially appealing. “Architecture and engineering can’t be separated in a real career. So it is very important to have the ability to have a conversation between engineering and architecture people,” says participant Jaehyun Kim, a second-year architecture student.

Moreover, the experiment was an exercise in promoting collaboration between the two disciplines. For MacNamara, collaboration entails more than simply working in groups. “The idea behind this course is that when you collaborate with a team member from another discipline, they are bringing something to the table that you don’t have and vice versa. That actually requires a lot of trust on part of the students,” she says.

For the students, the experiment was an opportunity to gain exposure to the manner in which both disciplines approach design. “The architecture students have been trained to think creatively, whereas we have been trained to get the answer to the problem,” says Rachael Ashton, a participating civil engineering student. Ashton also believes that team members from both the disciplines made an equal contribution to the experiment. “It’s not like one person is bringing more to the table. It’s a collaboration of knowledge,” she adds.

Students of both disciplines walk away with a richer perspective as a result of such experiments. On one hand, engineering education benefits from enhanced innovation and creativity. On the other hand, architecture students understand the significance of what MacNamara terms the “importance of technical rigor in design creativity.” “Architecture students could come up with shapes. But the trick is to come up with a shape you can build. And that’s where engineering comes in,” she says.

For the students, the hanging forms experiment was more than a tedious academic project. “It was a fun project. It is not like you had to memorize things or do calculations. We are figuring out things by experimenting ourselves. That’s the most fun part of this project,” says Kim.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Syracuse University Ranked in the Top 25 for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs by U.S. News & World Report
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • WAER 88.3 FM Welcomes New Sports Director
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By Mary Kate Intaglietta
  • The State of the Immigration Courts
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • Athlete, Activist Maya Moore Joins the Martin Luther King Jr. Virtual Event Series Jan. 27
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • Health Promotion Advocate and Alumnus Sidney Lerner ’53 Remembered
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff

More In STEM

Syracuse University Ranked in the Top 25 for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs by U.S. News & World Report

Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (iSchool) and the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) have been recognized as No. 11 for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs for Veterans and No. 25 for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs by U.S. News…

Data Privacy Day 2021: Is Your Personal Information Safe?

Jan. 28 is Data Privacy Day, an annual event to create and raise awareness about how personal information is collected, secured and shared in the growing digital world. A 2019 Pew Research Center report found a majority of Americans were…

Professor Rahman Awarded Google Grant to Engage Underrepresented Students in Computing Research

Electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) Professor Farzana Rahman received a 2020 Google exploreCSR award to fund the development of an undergraduate student engagement workshop program, Research Exposure in Socially Relevant Computing (RESORC). The RESORC program will provide research opportunities…

Arts and Sciences Welcomes New Director of Forensics Kathleen Corrado

After 25 years working in the field of forensic science and over two decades of executive experience as a laboratory director, Kathleen Corrado has been named director of the Forensic and National Security Science Institute (FNSSI) in the College of…

Hehnly Lab Awarded $1.2M NIH Grant to Research Critical Tissue Formation

A key process during the development of an embryo is tissue morphogenesis, where the number of cells in an organism increase through cell division and tissues begins to take shape. Heidi Hehnly, assistant professor of biology, has been awarded a…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.