Kelvin High School on board with hut
Drafting class builds hut inspired by CNR locomotive 6043
Advertisement
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/01/2015 (4083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Students at Kelvin High School have put their mark on the Red River Mutual Trail once again.
Instructor John Zonneveld’s design drafting class has built a warming hut called 6043 as part of the annual competition that sees select architects from across the globe create an installation for the skating trail.
Kelvin’s involvement with the warming huts began in 2012 when Zonneveld’s class created a “rogue hut.” The piece hadn’t been submitted to or commissioned by The Forks, but the tourist destination happily accepted the hut and placed it next to Frank Gehry’s installation.
“I had read about the huts at The Forks, and I thought because I taught this course in architecture, it would be nice to have a project that the kids could actually do and get their hands dirty,” Zonneveld said.
Since that first hut, Kelvin’s design drafting class has garnered some clout and was asked to build a hut for the Red River Mutual Trail with the support of the title sponsor.
6043 takes its name from the train at Assiniboine Park, CNR steam locomotive 6043. Zonneveld said the project was born out of a student’s work from last year when the class was working on concepts for a hut.
“Essentially we rebirthed that idea, and the students now took it on to the building phase,” he said. “We do a full framing model of it, we worked out any problems that existed with the design work from the year prior, and we made a cut list and went down to the workshop.”
Marco Chénier, 17, was involved in the physical construction of the hut and said the process involved troubleshooting and creative problem solving.
“It was a really interesting experience with a lot of different challenges along the way; it was definitely a good team-building experience with other people in the classroom,” Chénier said.
The Grade 12 student plans to pursue civil engineering technology at Red River College and said his participation gives him an advantage going into the field.
“It’s definitely experience for me and it will make everything a lot easier. It will look extremely good on my resume when I am applying for jobs,” he said.
Zonneveld estimates that hundreds of hours of work have gone into 6043, but student Kevin Truong said it’s worth it.
Truong was involved in the construction and assembly of 6043 and plans to take his family down to the river to check out his work.
“It’s a great experience and I am just glad to be a part of it,” the 17-year-old said.
According to Zonneveld, it was important that his students understood that the project wasn’t just “another whimsical design assignment in class.” He had the students working with metal wire, popsicle sticks and other materials to see what sort of designs could be feasible.
“The next thing you know, you see a two or three concepts that you could carry to fruition start to develop,” Zonneveld said.
From start to finish, student Aiden Bart, 16, said the process has been a fun learning experience with a great reward.
“The best part was probably getting it on the river and watching it all come together in the end,” Bart said.