B7 Course Reflection Yosep Bak

AE410
B7 - Course Reflection
Yosep Bak
3/14/2016



Starting this class, I thought I was just going to be learning about specifications and more calculation based class. But to my surprise, this class was not about crunching the numbers and memorizing formulas at all. This course was more of an appetizer plate for many of the practical skill sets that aspiring engineers must know, or at least have seen. This class covered many different topics through project and blog post, and although self-research was necessary for the course, proper sources and a large pool of credible information have been given to students. Students were sometimes working in a group to develop a more comprehensive project altogether.

From the projects and assignments, I have acquired many skill sets and information. I was able to learn about different topics of building system development, and I learned mostly about BIM and Green buildings. I was also exposed to databases and sensors from one project which was educational. I enjoyed learning about Microsoft Access because it was simple enough to deliver the concept of database system but complex enough to be applicable in small scale projects. Professor's Evernote Notebook was found to be particularly useful since this is what professor has deemed relevant to the industry. The class was also assigned to create a family in Revit and that assignment was particularly useful because I have first hand witnessed Revit being used at my co-op. Although I was not dealing with modeling Revit, I have seen Revit being used alongside AutoCAD enough to know that being familiar with this software will become useful in the long run.

Guest speakers were also very informative. These speakers were all from the industry and provided the students with a fresh perspective of reality. It is empirical for aspiring engineers to grasp what the difference between textbooks and the industry. Guest speakers efficiently juxtaposed the self-researching aspect that might seem too far fetched for current deployment and kept the class grounded with current standards and applications. I also really appreciated that many of these guest speakers were alumni, and were very open to helping students with anything they can do.


Peer Comments:
Joe Dressel: I am sorry that you did not enjoy the database system. I think that was one of the most unfamiliar assignment we had this term and if it was not for the videos professor posted, I would not have made it at all.

Alexander Koo: I appreciated the BIM assignment as well. That assignment really forced the students to not only produce the result but think like an engineer. I also think that this class is going to benefit me in the long run because although I may not be a professional at BIM or MS Access, at least I have been exposed to the process.

Arthur McCloskey: I am glad that you found the MS access to be useful too. I have seen a whole bunch of comments saying how daunting the process was and even as a digital building concentration, I think managing large data is not appealing to most people.

Yosep Bak - w4 - p4

Subject topic

 Intelligent Building - Explore the interaction between making a building "intelligent" and making it "Green." Are they equivalent? Is it necessary to be "intelligent" to be "green"? Etc

Why is was chosen

 Often, being a green building has a strong correlation to how intelligent the building is; intelligent building is capable of saving more energy through calculation. However, building intelligence and greenness of the building are essentially two different aspects altogether. It is essential for future engineers to discern the difference between intelligent building and a green building. 

Relations to intelligent building

In order to explain the relationship between intelligent building and the topic, it is important to define what intelligent building and green building are. Intelligent building by definition is a building that is capable of varying four following elements to achieve cost efficient and productive building; structure, systems, service and management. Green building is a building that is designed to maximize resource and minimize the building’s impact on the environment. To summarize, intelligent building is designed to save money, green building is designed to save the earth. 

Challenges

Although intelligent building and green building are intrinsically different, they are strongly correlated. It will be a challenge to fully differentiate and isolate each of the elements to fully define the topic to the extent I want. 

Comments

Maissoun Ksara: I’m glad to see that we have selected the same topic as our choice. You said “What are the different factors that qualify a building as intelligent, and how can those be incorporated into any design project? I also would like to learn more about retrofitting current buildings to green or intelligent buildings.” I think my approach on this paper will be to explain each terms in details and fully show how they differ from one another. 

Rachel Frank: Yes I do agree that robotics is a field that will sooner or later be deployed in the construction field inevitably. I am excited to see what you and Maria will come up with as the next choice of robotic equipment that will revolutionize the industry.

Taryn Francischetti: I’ve actually heard of VR being used during the bidding process and as a part of the visual presentation. VR is most definitely going to be an integral part of construction when it comes to presentation for the owners.

Resources

http://www.pcmag.com/article/351486/blockchain-the-invisible-technology-thats-changing-the-wor

http://www.aecbytes.com/viewpoint/2016/issue_80.html

http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2016/BIM-LowCostHousing.html

http://www.futuristspeaker.com/business-trends/72-stunning-things-in-the-future-that-will-be-common-ten-years-from-now-that-dont-exist-today/?nocache=1

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/magazine/the-great-ai-awakening.html?_r=0

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2015_07_07_five_lessons_building_industry_can_learn_from_wearable_tracker_craze

https://www.wired.com/2015/03/plan-build-skyscraper-doesnt-cast-shadow/

Yosep Bak-W1P1

Yosep Bak                                                                                                                                     1/10/2017

Week 1 Post 1

About me

My name is Yosep Bak, and I am a senior majoring in Civil and Architectural Engineering. 

I enjoy the nature as much as i can, but harsh and unforgiving weather of Philadelphia has turned me into more of a Netflix-and-chill type of a person. I'd like to do more civil related work once graduating, and my passion is in bridges and highways, especially the foundation aspect. 

I have little to no exposure with intelligent building since my housing budget does not allow me to live in fancy places that implement such technology. However, the concept of intelligent building, which is basically a building automatically collecting data and converting into useful and implementable information, has always bedazzled me and I cannot wait to learn more about it.