Saturday 30 July 2016

Specialism: Careers visit by Sheena Chen- Structural Engineer

This week we were lucky enough to have a visit from Sheena Chen a structural engineer working on the Kirkbride Road Interchange

Sheena gave a great presentation to the Year 7 & 8's


she explained her role


how important all engineers are, how she uses maths and physics every day in her work, how she was inspired to become an engineer by a lack of females in the role and by her love of architecture, maths and physics


what she has done at Beca- including looking at wharves and checking for structural defects


her current project- Kirkbride Road Interchange- which is local to us


how it used to look


what they are doing


why they are doing it, and problems they have encountered along the way


engineers have to design for extremes of weather and events like earthquakes


Sheena explained how concrete behaves like hard lollies and steel behaves like lolly snakes- how engineers combine the two materials to use both qualities in reinforced concrete


what Kirkbride Road Interchange looks like now


what it will look like in the future when it is finished


how this impacts on Auckland and the motorway network


how all the agencies involved work as a team


Our students asked some awesome questions at the end


Sheena designed a bridge that she is most proud of...

Thanks Sheena- you have really inspired us!


Specialism: Year 7 & 8 Soft Materials- Adding the final images

This week is our last full week of soft materials

We have to add our images to our outcomes

First we had to scan or get our image, flip it and size it to our fabric

then print and cut it out


we had to make sure the border was cut neatly


then add the fabric medium to the picture side


making sure it was all covered


lift, flip and stick in place


carefully press down and leave to dry

now we wait until next week....



Thursday 21 July 2016

Specialism: Year 7 & 8 Soft Materials- Planning and making our outcomes

A few weeks ago we planned the making of our outcomes..


rough draft


planning including the relevant stages, equipment, health and safety, quality checks and approx timings...


then we planned the making stages for adding the image

Now it is time to make our outcomes.....


draw up our pattern on news print- will it fit our zip or press studs..?


have we left a seam allowance...?


cut it then pin it to our fabric.. don't waste any- pin it to the edge...


it's not as easy as it looks...


we used fabric scissors to cut..


the we pinned...


tacking...


reading for sewing on the machine..


it kept us busy...

then we sewed on the machine..our planning and prior knowledge really helped..



Specialism: Year 7 & 8 Soft Materials- Finalising our images



After weeks of testing, trialling and modelling we have finalised our ideas



we have chosen the media that works for us


many of us have new skills that have developed nicely


look at the results


beautiful details..


great colours


bright ideas


final ideas- one by hand, one on the computer- flipped and ready to print...



Specialism: Year 7 & 8 Soft materials-Testing and trialling ideas



For a number of weeks we have been testing and trialling ideas



using chromebooks for inspiration


developing our skills


watching tutorials to help develop our skills


applying our knowledge


practice, 


trying things out..



What will work?


How will this turn out?

We have time to model our ideas but we need to record our findings...



What have we learned from our testing and trying out of ideas?


What are the benefits and limitations of each stage/process?