Designing ‘The Crown’
At ETS, we take immense pride in the continuous growth and achievement of our team members. So we are thrilled to share what our talented designer, Jenni has been up to. Jenni recently completed a commendable 12-week timber technology engineering design course through the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE).
The first part of the course focused on timber as a material to work with. This involved using the correct tools to make a joint with two or more timber members. With these basic skills in place the team was tasked with creating a structure which was designed for manufacture and assembly (DFMA). DfMA is the practice of designing a structure which can be manufactured in a factory environment and then transported it site for assembly. This is standard practice when using modern methods of construction (MMC).
The task was to design and build a scaled timber structure that when disassembled fits within an imaginary box size of 1750mm x 450mm x 500mm. The team had to consider who would use the structure, where it could be located, environmental conditions that could impact the design, sustainability, how it would be used and what activities could take place inside the structure.
The group discussed what could be done, and how best to achieve the brief whilst still using the timber-to-timber connection that was required in the initial assignment. In this section of the project the team was permitted to use mechanical fixings, however the general consensus was that the aesthetic of the overall structure would benefit from the skills learnt in the first half of the course.
As well as designing and building the structure the team had to include clear assembly instructions too. Once complete the team re-erected the structure in the main foyer of the NMITE Skylon campus. The team fixed some of the instabilities that were spotted after completing the build the first time round. A name was also decided on!
Jennie said: “We christened the structure ‘The Crown’ as it looks like something from Game of Thrones! It is to half scale, so when full size would be approx. 3.5m tall, the purpose of the structure is to be a meeting place, or somewhere where people can gather, and it be a point for discussion.”
Well done Jenni!
