” A bridge will be built over the railroad tracks connecting Quaker Square to the rest of campus using designs from a student competition. The titanium pedestrian bridge competition sponsered by the Defense Metals Technology Center made a stop in Akron on Thurs.”
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A bridge will be built over the railroad tracks connecting Quaker Square to the rest of campus using designs from a student competition.
The titanium pedestrian bridge competition sponsered by the Defense Metals Technology Center made a stop in Akron on Thurs. Oct. 29. More than 100 competitors from 17 universities came to campus for a site visit and tour. Students majoring in engineering, architecture and industrial design from universities in the metals heartland of America came together on campus to bridge a gap.
The competition’s goal is to design a bridge connecting Quaker Square to the main campus over the railroad tracks. The only design requirement is that the bridge be made entirely out of titanium. Titanium does not rust or corrode and is more protective than steel. The design competition will highlight Titanium’s viability and uses
The competition will highlight the use of titanium for commercial uses. The Defense Metals Technology Center wants to increase awareness of titanium and to enhance its commercial and military use.
Defense Metals Technology Center Executive Director, Charles Clark, and the University of Akron Vice President of Capital Planning and Facilities Management, Ted Curtis, came up with the idea for the competition. The Defense Metals Technology Center had funding from the Department of Defense Appropriation Act and the Ohio department of Development, so it made sense to sponser a student titanium bridge competition at the University of Akron.
A bridge over the railroad tracks is very much needed. Currently the railroad tracks divide Quaker Square from the rest of the University of Akron campus. To get from Quaker Square to the main campus, students and residents must use out of the way routes and bridges.
The site visit of the competition began at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29. The students spent the day hearing from speakers about the applicabilities of titanium, getting measurements, developing concepts, and getting inspiration for their bridge designs. The competitors bridge designs will have an entrance on the intreior second-floor of the Quaker Square Inn and a seperate exterior entrance on the parking lot level accessible by a ramp. The bridge will be approximately 200 feet in length spanning across the railroad tracks into the empty parking lot on the otherside.
The students have until Jan. 29 to submit their proposed bridge design concepts and the judges will choose five finalists on Feb. 26. The designs will be judged by Leila L. Vespoli, senior vice president and general counsel of FirstEnergy Corp., Lillian A. Kuri, program director of architecture, urban design and sustainable development of the Cleveland Foundation, Job H. Lippincott, publisher of Rubberworld Magazine, former U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, Victor J. Scaravilli, chairman and CEO of Mole Constructors, Inc., Paul Thomarios, president of Thomarios Cos., and Jeffrey Spangler, principal of R.E. Warner & Associates. The winning student teams will each receive scholarship awards.
When the competition is completed in May of 2010, the bridge will be built using state, federal and private funding.
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