In science this term, we worked on a project in which we had to construct a scale model of an earthquake-safe building, using spaghetti and blu tack, in order to learn about the different structures used in the real world to make buildings more safe for people, in order to ensure that they do not collapse in the situation of an earthquake. We first did a 50min design sprint in which we tried to make this building without any planning, in just 50mins, then redid it a second time in the next few lessons in order to plan and make a structurally secure building. In making the model, following the budget of $60 to buy the materials of spaghetti ($1/stick) and blu tack ($1/gram), we planned the design in order to make it structurally secure and to make sure that we could afford it. We then constructed the building out of the materials which we purchased with the hypothetical money, and then afterwards tested its resistance to earthquakes by simulating an earthquake using a shake table, and saw how well it withstood the shaking, measured with a seismometer app.

In the process, we started by planning the model. To keep within the budget, I used the desired height and necessary supports to calculate the exact lengths and sizes for all the parts of the building (e.g. supports, levels, etc) which also ensured that, in building, we cut the correct lengths to avoid wasting material, drawing this up in a design plan. In building the model, we ‘purchased’ the materials and followed the plan with the design and lengths, having one person measure and cut the spaghetti, and the the others to work together in constructing the building, holding and building various parts of the structure, allowing us to successfully build the model to meet the requirements. To improve in the future, we should factor in the unusable leftover cuttings into the plan, as well as considering a way to make it more vertically strong but cheaper, as a lack of blu tack required us to make a taller level which would be less stable. Also, group members should more equally contribute to the plan so we would have more methods to make it stable and also plan the actual coordination of building the model together.