Architectural Competition in Santa Ynez

If you had been lurking around the Upper Campus at 6:55 am on Tuesday the 13th of March, braving the rain and stumbling about in the dark, you might just have caught sight of a strange and unusual thing: eight high school students and one teacher loading up into a white van. Wielding scale rulers, plastic triangles, and mechanical pencils, these intrepid adventurers had only two things in mind—the Santa Barbara High School Architectural Competition, and a desire for strong coffee.

Victor, Gabe, and Trevor: together in life, together in architecture!

All grades were represented in the group: Tys (our sole senior); Eva, Gabe, Josh, Trevor, and Victor (juniors); Peter (sophomore); Josh (freshman). They arrived at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, and quickly found their way to the gymnasium. Along with about 50 other high school students from Dos Pueblos, San Marcos, Santa Ynez, Dunn, St. Joseph's, Santa Maria, and more, they listened attentively as the design challenge was described.

Josh and Peter read the design brief carefully as the

competition begins

The challenge: to design a new fire station that would be both functional and attractive, having a natural "park-like" feel. Constraints were given as to fire truck bay dimensions, equipment lockers, living quarters requirements. Particular difficulty lay in the small size of the property described. Not to be fazed, the students launched into it with gusto!

This competition has been running annually for the last 27 years, conceived and managed by David Goldstien from the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara.  Recent winners have come from Dos Pueblos, Laguna Blanca, St. Joseph's, and Dunn. This is the first year that Providence has entered the competition; David reached out personally to our school this year to make us aware and extend his invitation.

Tys, Eva, and Josh working hard and enjoying the day!

It was a long day of creating professional-style scale drawings (site plan, floor plans, and elevations), but the students all agreed that the seven hours had flown by, and they could have done with just a little more time! Gabe commented that this was the "the best icebreaker you could do to get into the world of architecture." Trevor noted that the whole experience "helped us understand how to spend time wisely."

The entries were judged on the same day by practicing architects, and within 24 hours we received some good news: Josh and Gabe had both placed in the top twelve, and were asked to present their designs to the final panel at the Alisal Guest Ranch!

Gabe describes the nuances of his plans to the judges

Josh prepares for his own spiel

In the end, the competition was won by Vivian from Dunn School in Los Olivos. Vivian has placed amongst the winners in years past, and so was well prepared to take the lead. However, our congratulations go out to all of our eight students, and especially Josh and Gabe, who represented Providence so well in their very first attempt. A supervising teacher from Santa Maria commented on the difference that our students exhibit: her students have commented that they want "the Providence confidence!"

Josh and Gabe proudly stand for a photo at the Alisal

The Providence Engineering Academy teaches many different aspects of design and engineering, in its pursuit to "inspire and equip students to find creative solutions to the world's problems through mathematics, science, and engineering, as imitators of a creative God." Architecture is but one of those many exciting elements, and we congratulate all of our participants for their creativity and hard work. For more information on our engineering programs, contact Rod Meadth or download the application packet from the sidebar of this website.

Gliders: In Production!

A quick update on our Advanced Engineering II glider project: the students are currently hard at work translating their theoretical calculations into hand-made reality. The problem is at first daunting; how do you create the various parts of a flying machine, according to a specific design? There are dozens of materials that might be chosen for each component, and the production needs to be accurate enough and cheap enough and quick enough and repeatable enough!

Aaron lines his twenty ribs carefully

in place, ready to glue

All teams have settled on a 3D-printed rib-and-spar design for the wings, although the exact rib profile varies in size and shape. All teams are using carbon fiber square tubes for the spars (the long beams that run through from wing tip to wing tip). Some teams are planning on skinning their wing with cellophane, and others are planning on tissue paper and dope (a kind of glue that tightens and hardens the paper).

Kylie and Josh and Luke are producing
the largest, thickest ribs of all teams
(sounds delicious, in fact)

To see some interactive CAD models that Tys and Mikaela and Colby and Victor are working on, click here.

Other components, such as the undercarriage and fuselage and tail, are being made from 3D-printed parts, balsa sheets, more carbon fiber, and even colorful pipe cleaners.

Victor, Colby, and Mikaela go over the particulars of their CAD

model with Dr. Nathan Gates, retired aerospace engineer

Megan and Caleb receive valuable

advice from our classroom mentor

To help with the design process, we asked retired aerospace engineer Dr. Nathan Gates to visit our classroom. Dr. Gates moved around the different teams to consult with them. Each team explained their design, and received valuable feedback as to their construction plans. Dr. Gates' area of expertise was structural mechanics; he was doubtlessly overqualified for this role!

Proud Providence alumna Willow looks over Gabe's and Eva's

wing design

To further sweeten the deal, we also asked Willow Brown, Providence alumna (2015), to come by on the same day. Willow's sister, Kylie, is on a team with Luke and Josh. Willow is currently studying mechanical engineering at Loyola Marymount University. Did this give Kylie and her team an unfair advantage? Only time will tell.

The maiden voyage is fast approaching, so watch this space. There's more coming up later this year, too—students will design, print, and build quadcopter drones. Stay posted, and thank you to Dr. Gates and Willow!