Engineering Students Plan Prudential High Rise
As part of a senior design project, a team of civil engineering majors at Merrimack College developed plans for a residential high-rise in the Prudential Center – at the center of the historical Back Bay, Boston.
The Project
This proposed residential high-rise project will require inserting a 311' tall structure through the existing Prudential Center garage and the existing Lord & Taylor building. In reality, this project has received approval from various city departments, yet is currently on hold due to the economic down turn.
What the Students Did
The students were required to design various aspects of the project as if they were a design firm – Merrimack College Consulting Engineers. Each student took on a specialty: project manager, structural, transportation, construction, environmental, and geotechnical.
The Students:
• Created schematic documents to allow the client to establish the feasibility of the project. The schematics serve as the first step in receiving feedback from the permitting authorities, and allow the developer to create financial estimates;
• Learned the design of the building, and created interior apartment layouts;
• Accommodated a demolition plan that allowed for removal of a portion of the existing garage while keeping it fully operational;
The Challenges:
• Back Bay is very complicated with the type of soils in the area, installing foundations has substantial risks and numerous complexities, all of which needed to be accounted for in the schematic design;
• Students had to create a system as a requirement by the city to recharge the Back Bay water table;
• That area of Boston has significant historical value, which also needed to be addressed in the plans;
• The project had then potential of impacting traffic and transportation in the surrounding area and in the existing garage.
Paul Zarba, faculty advisor for project/adjunct lecturer of civil engineering at Merrimack
“The students had to explore real life complex issues in a way they have not been exposed to in the classroom. They had to embrace this project without the aid of a text book, they had to rely on their knowledge of doing various calculations, but more importantly had to embrace the art of communication. This project required the students to work as a team.”
Gregory Rogowski, 22, civil engineering senior and project team member with environmental specialty
“I was in charge of designing the Rainwater Detention System and Wastewater System. It was fun to work on a project that was realistic and not theoretical. So many different aspects of the project had to be pulled together in order to complete the project successfully.”
Media Contact: To speak with project team members or the instructor, contact Heather Notaro at (978) 837-5195 or heather.notaro@merrimack.edu.
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