By Erik Gomez, Voiland College of Engineering & Architecture intern
PULLMAN, Wash. – A team of Washington State University construction management students recently earned second place in the Design-Build Institute of America’s national student competition in Las Vegas. Thirty-one teams from 23 universities participated.
DBIA is a national organization that promotes the integration of design and construction industries to more effectively carry out high-performance projects.
“The student competitions are as close to real life in the design and construction industry as possible,” said David Gunderson, team advisor and associate professor of WSU’s School of Design and Construction. “The competition forces the involvement and collaboration of students in the design disciplines with the construction management students.”
“This was the first time I had the opportunity to work on a design project with students outside my program of interior design,” said student Christie Andresen. “We had to learn where our programs overlapped to create the strongest project possible and delegate tasks, which at times were tricky to define.”
“To have an effective team you can’t be isolated and do your part then bring it all together,” said student Connor Schneider. “If you want to have a strong proposal you need to work together through the entire process and collaboratively create a unified proposal.”
Other students on the WSU team included Marie Landsverk, Steven Bradshaw and Sam Rykken.
For the competition, students were required to develop planning documents for construction projects. In the first phase, they developed a fictitious company and a design solution for a proposed project. During a week in October, they had to produce a design plan, schedule and cost estimates for a fictitious parking facility with a recreation field and classrooms.
News media contact:
Tina Hilding, WSU Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture communications, 509-335-5095, thilding@wsu.edu
