A hands-on approach to learning
July 8, 2011
In recent years, students taking the “capstone’’ course in John Buttelwerth’s construction management program at Cincinnati State have found themselves learning – and demonstrating what they’ve learned – through real-world projects in Cincinnati.
Student teams in these classes have been assigned to draw up detailed proposals for renovating properties controlled by the Urban Land Cooperative, a non-profit organization devoted to preserving and fixing up affordable housing for families in the West End and South Fairmount.
It’s a daunting task for students. They have just nine and a half weeks to get the know the Urban Land Cooperative and what it’s about, figure out the needs of the future occupants of the building, and then go through the building inch by inch and figure out what should stay, what must go, what could be usefully moved, what would make the structure more functional for its new use. Then the students have to draw up detailed plans – not just floor plans, concepts and renderings of what the finished product will look like, but also detailed plans for such items as where the plumbing stacks will be located or where the electrical outlets and heating vents will be.
Notice we didn’t say heating/air conditioning vents. That’s a recommendation each student team has to wrestle with. You see, the Urban Land Cooperative operates on a tight budget, which means the student teams must do the same. Most students seem to understand that central air is an awfully attractive amenity in a house in the Mill Creek basin in August. But if it keeps the project on budget, maybe a room air conditioner might have to make do.
This is not pie-in-the-sky, television style remodeling, in other words. This is down and dirty, deep in the trenches work, the kind some students already know from their construction jobs and others will soon discover when they leave Cincinnati State.
In the photo above, John Otakasongo, a student in Buttelwerth’s construction management class, explains a detail of his team’s plans for renovating a six-unit apartment in the West End owned by the Urban Land Cooperative.
Helping John with the analysis of the students’ work is fellow Cincinnati State instructor Ralph Wells (back to camera, at right). Other members of the team are, left to right, Clair Davey, Robby Hoffman, Mike Buckmeier and Don Seiller.
