2012 Newhouse project #2012323 | school bike shelter
- Overview
- Collect Info Completed
- Brainstorm Ideas Completed
- Develop Solutions Completed
- Final Design Completed
Welcome Chicago Public High School students!
These are the instructions for entering a project in Division 6 for the 2012 Newhouse Architecture Competition.
Bike racks and bike rider amenities are given little attention when schools are planned, and bike riders have little infrastructure support for their choice to ride to work or school.
In order to support healthy lifestyles we are asking you to design a bike shelter that will provide safe and secure storage, protection from Chicago weather (year around), and some amenities that would be helpful for bike riders to have when they reach school.
The project will either replace your existing bike storage area OR you can find a new location that would better serve the school. You must identify and justify the new location (eg. - visibility is better, or there is more room to maneuver).
Check out the video below to get inspiration:
A bike shelter design would really be helpful to the school. Bike shelters are necessary because there are student that ride their bikes to school and they don’t know where to place them because of the fact that there is no bike shelters. If there was a bike shelter in school property then more students would ride to school on their bikes instead of driving to school. Students don’t bike to school because of there is no bike shelter. In this community we could use a bike shelter for both the students and the teacher also for the community. In the community most of the people don’t ride their bikes anywhere because there are places that don’t have bike shelters for the costumer’s bikes. I believe that if a bike shelter was made more of the students would ride their bikes to school. Students now don’t ride their bikes because because there is no bike shelter if they see that there is a bike shelter than they will ride their bikes. Also students that drive to school will see that a bike shelter has been made and they will ride their bikes instead of their cars especially now with the high gas prices who will want to drive their cars they prefer to not drive to school they rather bike to school and save themselves some money from having to put gas to their cars. Biking to school is better than car pulling because still you are polluting the air even though if you car pull. This idea is environmentally friendly because this will help reduce pollution, going green is the best way to go. A bike shelter is eco-friendly to the community. Also people can feel safe by leaving their bikes there. This bike shelter will have security just in case anything happens. Anyone can use this bike shelter it will be open to the public every day 7 days a week. it will also have a small restaurant so people can come and take a snack on the go or stay have their lunch.
In the Collect Info step of the design process, you try to gather as much information as possible about your school's existing bike storage facilities, along with the students and staff who will use it. You can't propose new solutions until you figure out and document what the existing problems are.
Try This
- Do a site visit of your bicycle parking facilities and make notes, sketches, and take photographs. Note conditions that are unsafe, unsecure, or that are less than ideal.
- Look at other schools or public facilities to determine good / bad examples of how bikes are stored and if anything is done to accommodate riders needs when they get off their bike.
- Interview bike users and ask them what they would like to have in a bike shelter at their school or place of work.
- Calculate the number of bikes that park over a week, also inquire if bikes are registered with the main office and if so how many are registered with the school.
- Do an analysis at different times of the day and week and create an analysis with average usage and high / low points. Also determine if there are more bikes at the beginning of the week or end of the week.
- Measure and draw the existing bike parking area and locate and note existing structures such as fencing, bike rack (notate the type and material), show the size of a bike and its clearances on the plan. Include dimensions.
My work for the Collect Information step:
At other schools and facilities bike shelters are being used because they have bike shelters. I have seen some students biking to school and they have to find where to put their bikes because the school doesn’t have any bike shelters. I believe that adding a place to put bikes in will get the students and the community’s attention and more people will use their bikes. Most schools don’t offer a big space to put bikes in and because of this less students use the bike shelter. The more bike rack there is then more student will bike to school because they fell safe leaving their bike in a bike shelter. With the information i have collected I see that students want a safe place to leave their bikes and if a bike shelter was made then more students would ride their bikes.
In progress
In the Brainstorm Ideas step of the design process, you put some early ideas down on paper that show what you've found in the Collect Info step.
Try This
- As you are observing and making notes think about how your bike shelter is taking shape. Make side notes of where new elements may go or how you would change what is currently in place.
- Take note of unsafe conditions or conditions that do not make sense (For example, bicycles sticking out into a sidewalk or people having difficulty parking their bikes).
- Sit and study photographs of your site visit. If you can print and write comments of what you remember and note where you might change things and how.
Test
My work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:
From the information that was gathered from the surveys I came up with these Ideas for the bike shelter. In the inside I would put bike racks, restrooms, a restaurant and a bike repair shop so that people that have bikes can fix their bikes or buy stuff for their bikes.
In the Develop Solutions step, your rough ideas come together with drawings and models that can show others your solutions for a new bike shelter.
Try This
- Try out different ideas and save each “version”. You do not want to lose a good idea later! Other people viewing your project - other students around the country, your teacher, and mentors - want to see how your ideas have changed over time. This means that while you're working on your digital model, you’ll want to be sure to keep re-saving it with a new file name every few days as you work through the steps.
- Make a list of your ideas and associated sketches, or practice models. For your final upload you will want to write a short but effective paragraph of your process and what you found. This will inform the direction you will take for the final solution.
- Show your ideas to your teacher and peers for some feedback. You can also review your progress with the test group you may have interviewed and test whether your design would meet their needs or address their concerns. Learn from the feedback you receive and incorporate into your final design solution.
- Be sure to check out and make comments on other student bike shelter projects. Post a link to your project on your Facebook account.
- Review your design and test it against your own observations and review that it has met the project requirements. Did it meet the expectations of the end users that you spoke to?
- Do not leave work for the last minute! Going through a detailed design process requires time to gather information, develop ideas, and make improvements. This is difficult or impossible if you try to pull everything together a week before your project is due. Projects that are researched, developed, and well executed will always stand out!
My work for the Develop Solutions step:
developing the bike shelter will take time this section will show what i have tried to attemp with my idea of the bike shelter.
Each bike shelter design will have a different point of view of the things that I have included in this design.
The final step of the design process is to create more finished drawings that illustrate your ideas to others. Remember, your explanation text, and the types of drawings, images, and models you share need to tell the whole story of your project to someone who may or may not have ever visited your school.
Be sure that you understand and meet all schedule deadlines and project data submission requirements.
The Newhouse Competition judges will be evaluating your design project on:
- The creativity of the final solution.
- If you have included all studies, observations, data, and calculations utilized for determining capacities, design considerations, and scale of final project.
- How well you showed the design process through sketches, notes, pictures, etc.
- How well your projects incorporates the following components:
Secure bike storage using common bike parking structures (bike racks), or some type of creative structure that is an “improvement” to what is currently installed and utilized at the school.
Shelter from the weather – it can be enclosed or partially enclosed.
Basic amenities: clean up or private shower facilities, personal lockers, small food kiosk or beverage bar, considerations for self performing bike maintenance, bike storage, information board(s).
Consideration for use at all hours and seasons.
My work for the Final Design step:
This section has this final Sketch up look it has the site plan and the Revit design. For these designs it took a lot of work.
Comments
This is a good start. You could have used more pictures. Maybe pictures of our current bike racks
Just a friendly reminder, you must upload photos and text for each step of the design process to be eligible for judging in the competition. Good luck!