Speakers:

Civic Design Center Host: Eric Hoke

Primary Barge Design Solutions Mentor: Mary Vavra

Professor: Lori Troxel

Engineering Student Group: Julia Finfrock, Chloe Namias, Terri Green, Jeff Cui, Nicholas Goldreyer, Tyler Flanzer, Sarah Politiski

Description:

As part of an ongoing partnership with Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, Barge Design Solutions and Civic Design Center mentored a group of students on a project that seeks to provide a transitional use for the Wedgewood-Houston site owned by Vanderbilt. The student group was comprised of a diverse background of engineering majors so that details on specific parts of the project could be addressed such as site planning, waste management, electrical and mechanical solutions, etc. Overall, the focus of the project was to create a walkable, mixed-use secondary campus for Vanderbilt that caters to graduate students and embodies the “feeling” of the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. The strategy being presented is thought of as an interim use to lay the groundwork for larger-scale development to fit in with Vanderbilt’s long-range planning efforts. Because of the temporary nature of the buildings being proposed, important designs such as prefabricated container buildings and other cost-effective building practices were considered for this proposal.