Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — Interdisciplinary teamwork has paid off in some national recognition for Kansas State University students in the College of Engineering and College of Architecture, Planning & Design.

A team of students from K-State's architectural engineering, construction science and management, and architecture programs was the runner-up in four divisions of the 2014 Charles Pankow Foundation Architectural Engineering Student Competition. The university's team was one of only two teams to earn four awards at the event.

In the five-year history of the event, K-State has placed in at least one of the competition's divisions each year. But this year's team was the first to be made up of students from three disciplines — making the team even stronger, said Ray Yunk, professor and head of the architectural engineering and construction science and management department.

"This competition was developed in large part to reinforce the interdisciplinary nature of architectural engineering practice and the architectural, engineering and construction industry, and to encourage a more integrated and innovative approach to building design and construction," Yunk said. "This is why we saw it as essential to have representation from students in architecture, architectural engineering and construction science working together. I couldn't be more proud of the success of this team of students and faculty advisors and the effective collaboration across three academic programs and two colleges."

Tim de Noble, dean of the College of Architecture, Planning & Design, also applauds the collaboration and is not surprised by the results.

"I am pleased to see an interdisciplinary team of students from three departments in two colleges at K-State, all focused on the built environment, place so highly in this important competition. Their efforts, in parallel to those they will engage in throughout their professional lives, show the potency of collaborative design activity in bringing about better buildings," he said.

The team received runner-up recognition in the mechanical, electrical, construction and integration divisions of the competition, which was March 27-29 in Philadelphia. The competition is managed and run by the Architectural Engineering Institute, a professional organization under the umbrella of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

This year's competition project revolved around a 30-story high rise in downtown San Francisco. The student teams had to develop a design for this high seismic-risk structure that would be as high performance as possible and that minimizes the down time the building tenant would experience after a design-level seismic event. While the focus of the competition is the design of the engineered systems, students are allowed to modify the architectural design as necessary or desired, and also must be able to put together a construction management plan if they are entering the construction submittal process.

The team began work on the project in August 2013, meeting at least weekly as a whole group and weekly with a faculty adviser for their discipline-specific group. The team submitted its design in late February and was invited to present at the competition finals in March.

"K-State is one of the only schools competing at the event that does not use this project and competition as the capstone design experience for our architectural engineering students," said Russ Murdock, assistant professor of architectural engineering and construction science, lead faculty adviser for the university team and coordinator for the electrical group. "Our students are carving out their own time to make this competition happen. They can receive two hours of credit if they choose, but it is not required."

Student members of the team and their group included:

From Greater Kansas City: Joseph Haws, May 2014 bachelor's candidate in construction science and management, Kansas City, construction group member; Lindsey Kramer, May 2014 bachelor's candidate in architectural engineering, Olathe, mechanical group member; and Todd Blackburn, a May 2014 bachelor's candidate in architectural engineering, project manager and structural group member, Thomas Lusk, May 2014 Master of Architecture candidate, architectural coordinator, and Brent Schumacher, senior in architectural engineering, electrical group member, all from Overland Park.

Kade Schnoebelen, senior in construction science and management, Lewis, construction group member; Bryce Harris, senior in architectural engineering, Valley Center, electrical group member; and Alexander Crownover, May 2014 bachelor's candidate in architectural engineering, Wichita, mechanical group member.

From out of state: Sean Wonderlich, May 2014 concurrent master's and bachelor's candidate in architectural engineering, Mahomet, Illinois, structural group member.

Along with Murdock, team faculty advisers included: Chris Ahern, assistant professor of architectural engineering and construction science, faculty adviser for the mechanical group; Bill Zhang, assistant professor of architectural engineering and construction science, faculty adviser to the structural group; and Shannon Casebeer, instructor of architectural engineering and construction science, for the construction group.

More information on the competition is available at http://content.asce.org/studentcompetition/competition.html.