CREATE students compete in APTI bridge competition in Texas

As part of this year’s annual conference, the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI) launched a student competition that challenged intercollegiate teams to design and erect a timber bridge using historic materials and methods of assembly. The competition allowed students the opportunity to experience preservation from conception and design, to construction, testing and conservation planning.

The Carleton University team consisted of a multidisciplinary group of seven graduate students (architects and engineers), as well as mentors and industry partners. As the only Canadian team chosen to be one of the three finalists, the team presented and tested their design at the annual APTI Conference in San Antonio Texas.

Left to right: Isis Bennet, Cristina Ranalli, Natalie Miller, Zeynep Ekim, Instructor John Cooke, Alex Federman, Miquel Reina Ortiz, Brandon Robinson, and Professor Mariana Esponda Cascajares

The Preservation Engineering Competition hosted by the APTI, increases awareness of tangible rehabilitation issues such as spatial constraints, material properties, durability, construction processes, aesthetics and conservation planning. The Carleton University team was given the opportunity to effectively work in an interdisciplinary setting, as well as apply firsthand the principles and theories of engineering and architecture.