Monday, June 24th
Today marked the beginning of our last week in Sweden. I was signed up for the role of project manager for the day and it was an interesting new experience. Instead of just working at the site I was responsible for planning the day and other logistics such as budgeting and conceptual drawings. Before starting I was a little nervous because I had essentially no experience leading a team of this size nor had I made many decisions of consequence to many other people. Once I planned out the daily objectives and assigned people to work certain tasks, my job became less stressful and I mostly stayed in the shipping container for the remainder of the day.
Later in the day, we had our first night lesson for ENGI 355 where we learned how to render objects.
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 25th and 26th
With our final layer of planks coming in the next few days, we needed to decide upon a strategy for fastening our base logs and middle layer together. We started off with 3 different options of pins, rebar, and bolts, but we found through prototyping that these methods would take too much time and money. After a quick material run, we got 2cm wide metal strips that we would lay on top of the logs and screw down in either side. We finished one section pretty quickly on Tuesday and my team finished securing the rest of the base on Wednesday. when I was on Food and Fika duty. After working at the site, I worked more on my final presentation that I would have to give Thursday morning.
Metal Fasteners
Thursday, June 27th
The day began with an hour of the Sleep deprived Rice students giving a presentation on the work their team had done on their path so far. Despite knowing each team’s progress from being at the site, the presentations showed the of their method of planning that led them to their solutions. Soon it began to feel like Christmas morning when the rough sawn planks arrived on site. For the rest of the day we took measurements and dertimed a more specific plan for the pattern of what would be the final layer of the circle. After 5, the Dare 2 Build Team went to the lake where we swam, jumped off diving boards, ate pizza and played kubb. The water was refreshing and it was a great way to spend our penultimate day together.
Lake
Friday, June 28th
On our last day of building, we knew that we had to get at least some of the boards screwed into place so the Chalmers team members would have a manageable amount of work for the next week and to ensure that we were going forward with a design the team had collectively agreed upon. By the end of the day we had fixed planks to 2/4 sections of the circle, one section on top of logs and one section on top of planks. Even though we didn’t get to see our whole project completed, I was still happy that I could see part of it finished in a way where I could finally visualize the final result. In the afternoon we said goodbye to the summer workers and Daniel. Finally, the remaining Rice students played one last game of 4 square together just like we did on our first night together.
Team Wilderness
Saturday, June 29th
Today was my last full day in Sweden and I mostly used it to check off the final boxes of places to visit. Around noon I visited the famous fish market and the rose festival with Dr. Wettergreen. Also I checked out this really cool science fiction store which had everything I could have ever wanted and more. Then I walked around Gothenburg’s Botanical Garden before heading to the Hostel to pack up.