Summary of project

In this project we were tasked to design, budget and build an earthquake resistant building out of spaghetti and blu-tac. To start this project we made up small groups of around four and we had to complete a design sprint and make a quick tower. This stage was important as it showed us what we lacked and the flaws of our design. After this we used the information that we learnt from the design sprint and we made a stronger more firm design that we then had to budget. In this challenge we had $60 dollars to spend on the tower where each stick of spaghetti costs $1 and each gram of blu-tac costs $1. Once we had the design and budget we began making it. We had worked out roles before-hand to ensure that everyone was working to their own strengths. I was assigned to do the budget and help construct the tower. Once we had finished the construction we put it onto a shake table to simulate an earthquake. The point of this was to see how earthquakes affect many people worldwide and to see how well we can design a tower. Our tower lasted the whole ten seconds on the table.

Engineering process

This project required a strong design that could withstand an ‘earthquake’. Because of this we needed a strong design that would stay standing during the tests. After a couple of designs that went over budget or weren’t strong enough we decided on the design above. We decided on this design as it slightly slants inwards meaning that the tower will be harder to fall sideways or on itself. We also used triangles as they are the strongest shape and will strengthen our build. We had support beams throughout the design that also formed the shape of a triangle and they ended up being the main reason our tower was so strong. We also used a triangle base as it would save on money because there was one less side while also being strong.