Sustianable Design Project | Sarah O'Kane DP

Sustainable Design Project

Geodesic Dome

Narrative Of The Project

Sarah O’Kane

Sustainable Design

Project Narrative

GEO. Dome Group

How did the project “rollout?” What were your initial thoughts and feelings about the project?

In my opinion, the project was done fairly well we had a plain and we begin to execute the plain well we did hit a few bumps in the road being that prevented us from building the structure in a timely manner this was caused by the fact that some of our materials would show up later than expected. We did complete all the bed that was meant to be held inside the geodesic dome also, landscaping, and decor. The group requirement for finishing the landscaping was the thinning out the area around the building site for the dome, level the area for the dome, build two staircases for the area to be more functional, and try to make look aesthetically pleasing. The requirements for finishing the decor was to build a bench that had cubbies to create a storage space for tools and other items in the dome this went along with refining the bench and beds to make the interior of the dome aesthetically pleasing as well.

When we first were organized into groups and classroom which wouldn’t be the best way for our group to approach this certain project. We communicated this with our teachers and decided to rearrange the classrooms in order for our group would be more functional. As soon as this happened we created a list of our norms and how might we approached this project work. On the second day, we weren’t working functional as a group. As a result, I asked myself as for how might we want to organize the group to be more functional? We did need a learner but who that leader may be was the issue I knew that I had the experience and ability take a leadership role. So my main focus as to work on this project was to give everybody the organization that was missing in the beginning because everyone in our group had very unique perspective and ideas. For me, this project was more of how to approach people and make them understand every person and thing has something to contribute that is essential to the project. As far as the material part of the project there are a few things that we may have changed but I think we did accomplish a lot. If did have more time I think we could definitely have gotten the dome up and running. The main reason the project didn’t get finish was that are materials we order came late along with running out of time. The group itself worked very well together which was great because the people who were in the group together were the kind were it could have gone very bad or very good it ended up going very good. I would have liked it I if we did have time we go back and do warm and fuzzies with the group that way everyone would get feedback and learn a bit more about how they could improve next time there I a project like this.

Field Trips and Guest speakers. What learning or questions did you come away with? Include a memorable moment from either the field trips the guest speaker or both.

When we did the field trip for this project I was with the gardening group so got to see greenhouse and geo- domes which were amazing and useful. The thing that I learned that proved to be most useful was the learning about their water system when we came upon that challenge and we took it on we found a way to water all the plants. Another, thing that caught my eye was the way they had organized their plants which reminded me of when I took greenhouse for two semesters in middle school so I knew a bit about growing seasons which was nice and helpful. I loved the way they used the drip system for irrigation at The manna soup kitchen.

Based on what you’ve learned in this project, what is sustainable in your own words?

Based on learning about the environment and accent civilizations strategies as to build I would say that sustainable design is when you take something natural to the area and reuse it to create a cleaner area or object that works with or to support the surrounding environment. This design also as who will use this area, how, and how can we make this area be a place people want to go to. The reason we do a design like this is we want people to use it and not have all of us working on this project and then never use it again. This way we take only what we need from the earth and not waste it.

Prototype

Description

Protype

Description

How did the interviews and observations you completed help you arrive at the value and needs that your group aimed to meet?

The interviews helped us choose the location of the geo -dome along with giving us the idea of how big it would be and what kind of plants we would want to plant there in the future. It also gave us an idea of how we would approach the interior design. For example the outerier told the interier how big the dome was going to be and as soon as this happen one of the members of our team did the calculations in order for the bed to be just the right size to allow space,order and comfort in the dome. The location we choose was meant to be big enough and have sunlight but not to much for students. In order to have white noise for inspiration or to relax we cleared an area by the creek.

Explain how you took advantage of the freedom to have tons of ideas to arrive at your prototype and describe.

We took advantage of the freedom to to have ideas with being creative. At first our idea was to have a tree in the center of the geo dome that would be like a roof but we came up with pros and cons. In the end there were more cons the pros so that idea was past so we went through a few ideas and end up with just a normal dome but once we came upon are location it was a lot easier to open up to artistic ideas that could become a little trail to the creek like a little hang out area. The trail was supposed to happen after the dome was up but we were already leveling the ground where the dome was going to be so we figured that we may as well do the rest of the landscaping. So we went through quite a few ideas but most of what everyone wanted was it to be by the river and to be able to relax so that was mostly shown and done by choosing our location.

Clarify all the task your group completed all of the task you specifically accomplish in the physical construction of you prototype and describe.

Physically we accomplished creating six reade beds ,four tire beds, creating two staircases, creating one rock sculpture, making two benches one with storage space leveling the ground ,making one outdoor bed, one water bed planting one water plant, planting for herbs in the outdoor bed, creating two vertical beds ,painting all the beds ,the pole and both benches. In order to accomplish all this we had to seperate into groups and do research as two how we would make all of if it. We also magued to create a 3D model of our Geodesic dome to show at the exhibition.

The Reflection

What HOHAM or 21st-century skill did you grow in the most during this project?

The 21st- century skill I grew in through this project was leadership. It was nice to take the leadership role but in order to be a good leader you have to really know all the people you work with otherwise you just lose them and I was good friends with this group so it was easy working with` them people i don't really know or have a connection with so I could see how in the future that could be an issue.21st century skill I grew in through this project was leadership because I usually shy away from taking a leadership role in order to allow others to. I don’t like being seen as bossy or mean but in this project, no one really wanted to take the leadership role so I took it. I tried to stay nice and see through every point of view but there were times where I had to put everybody back on the task which made bee feel a bit mean and bossy which I don't really like. I know what kind of leader I could be and the then I want to be which is one in which you would choose as a leader, not one to always put themselves in the leadership position. I did grow my

What HOHAM or 21sr century skill do you need to grow ing in order to be the best PBL learner you can be?

I think if i could grow on anything based on this project i think it would be Effective communication because i felt like i was seeing what some people were saying when we were going over the water system but i felt like when i was explain how i was seeing it would work compared as to how they were seeing it work if felt as though they didn't see that I was also understanding their perspective and it felt as though I could have asked more question about how they were seeing it work so I felt as though I could do a better job at trying to get in more depth conversation about a topic such as how to approach a problem like this.

When was a time when things got hard and you solved a problem in this project?

A problem that we did come upon was when one day we didn't get as much done as we could have which lead to a very intense meeting ending with us all a little upset and worried we did handle the situation just not in the best way possible so the situation was a little rocky but in the end we compromised. Being that we wouldn’t let ourselves down by not working and going back to covering what needs to get done in the morning meetings. I also began going around making sure everybody had something to do. I think that this issue was actually really good for our group is we found a way to get refocused and I leader that sometimes you do have to push people but I do think there is a better way to approach this kind of situation I do seem to get kind of shaken up after approaching a situation like this so next time i think I figure a better way to approach this situation.

When was a time when things got hard and you were unable to solve a problem in this project?

The biggest problem i think I had in this project was there were some people in the group whom you could ask to do more work and try a little harder but if you did they would automatically go on the defensive which is not what you want because if this happened you would know they would automatically get shut down and be demotivated for the day which bugged me because there wasn’t really a way I could think of to approach this situation and I could also tell a that I was bothering some of the other group members. I could really approach these people and try telling that i think there capable of doing more work without really offending them and make them so upset the just stop all work which really upset me because I really believe that this people would have the potential if they just didn’t jump to thinking that it was more directed at them as an attack were ask you were simply trying to ask politely if they could possibly improve on the speed of the process because you know they're capable of so much more I really think that if this person did this they could accomplish amazing things but I just don't really know how to motivate this type of people.

What did you think success would look like in this project when you started what do you think success looks like for the project , now?

I think no matter how this project turns out it would be a success in my group because we all learned so much and I know that we would love it if the dome did get set up and working because accomplishing things by yourself is great but doing it with a team your really connected with is better because you did it together not only are you succeeding but someone you cared about is to and that make you happy knowing that they could and this also and on to her confidence. But either way, this was a learning experience were we all gained knowledge and hopeful and idea of the world we want to create because there's no feeling like explants and a world you know is healthy and fun. I deflate think if the world switch to sustainable design it would be a better place this project is a way of us seeing what the world is and what it could become. This reminded me of something i tell myself dreams become wishes wishes become accomplishments accomplishments become inspiration. My dream is of a better world where balance is the foundation this is a step tours my dream and one day this dream will become an inspiration. It is a success that we begin something that Hopley become complete.

What advice would you give to a student who is about to begin this project?

If I was to give any advice to a student beginning this project it would be no idea is too big to remember that ideas belong outside the box. People who have ideas outside the box and set out to be something great. This people also create a future you can decide what world you want to make because it's you and every single thing in the universe isn’t the same there all so unique and that's because they all are capable of more than they think. You can think of many ways to improve you also have a choice even if it seem like you don’t so don’t be afraid to have ideas and definitely don’t be afraid to share them because this project isn’t just about sustainability it's about a world you want to start.

Geodesic Dome

This is the team I worked with

Geo-Dome Group Norms, Procedures, and Rules

Norms:

Respect
Inside voices: no talking over each other/try not to
Have self-responsibility/accountability
Humility: acknowledge that you don’t know everything and have no fear to ask questions
Have trust and faith in the group

Procedures:

Someone having a hard time with work: Pick someone whose done with work/ahead and have them shadow/help/chauffer through the day
Someone is sick: Google Hangouts and transcripts at the beginning of the day to figure out what we want to accomplish and at the end of the day to write what we did accomplish
Someone is dominating: Re-center (boop nose) and tell them to settle back in a nice and productive way
Someone in a bad mood: Advocate your attitude and we will figure out how to reschedule in order to make the person feel comfortable (also listen to Billie tell jokes for five minutes)
Support ideas and learn from struggles: All ideas are written down in a google doc and when someone is out of ideas, look in the idea doc. Debrief at end of the day to discuss what went wrong and how we can improve.
Someone not contributing: Talk to them and see what’s going on, if work is still not getting done, bring in a mediator (teacher) to discuss what we wanna do about it.
THIS IS A TEAM EFFORT

Ground Rules

Keeping each other accountable and in tasks (nicely)
Meeting every morning to discuss what we will be doing that day (The Exchange/transcripts) (10 minutes max)
Noon meeting to discuss how to improve/what went well
Majority rules
Schedule on google sheet in the mornings to keep us on track throughout the day
Bring basic materials like a pen, paper, and laptops