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Campus: Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo -- January 15, 2002
Cal Poly's Cardboard Boat Regatta Set for Jan. 27; Student Creations
Also on Display Jan. 25
Cal Poly's Cardboard Boat Regatta returns to the campus's Recreation
Center Pool 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Jan. 27 with twice as many entries as last
year's event.
More than 75 students in a fundamental architectural design class will
design, construct and attempt to navigate vessels made from two 4-foot-by-6-foot
sheets of cardboard, brown paper tape and clear polyurethane waterproofing.
To qualify for the final race for the regatta's coveted "Cardboard
Cup," each craft must stay afloat through one qualifying heat.
The event is sponsored by the College of Architecture and Environmental
Design, and admission is free.
New guidelines this year will challenge students to create imaginative
flotation devices likely to differ from the traditional boat designs of
previous regattas, said project coordinator and Architecture Professor
Howard Weisenthal.
"We'll see more exotic devices, not just boats," Weisenthal
said.
"This one-week assignment is directly related to the architectural
design profession," he said. "The students will combine problem-solving
skills, construction detailing and aspects of documentation.
"This will also be one of their first exercises in professional ethics,
where they take responsibility for their designs. If they fail and get
soaked, they'll have only themselves to blame."
Aiding Weisenthal with the regatta this year are architecture professors
Barry Williams, James Bagnall and Laura Joines-Novotny.
Visitors can preview the creations and talk with the student designers
on the university's Dexter Lawn from 1 to 2 p.m. Jan. 25. (Bad weather
will move the advance viewing to the stairwell area of the Architecture
and Environmental Design Building.) Visitors will also be able to inspect
the entries 10-10:30 a.m. Jan. 27, just before the races begin. |