Course Reflection - Hillinger

Course Reflection - Hillinger

Carlos Hillinger -AE410 - B7

Final Reflection

          AE 410 has successfully given me a better perspective of not only intelligent buildings, but the construction world as well. I believe that teaching us different technologies and emerging systems in the present world, was like giving us the tools we need to have a better understanding of how the construction world is evolving and how we can evolve with it. I would also like to share that in my opinion the course is structured perfectly. We are given an introduction to Revit with an assignment, that will later help us understand the way BIM programs work. Then, we were asked to create a database in Access, which not only taught us a new software, but also served as a great introduction to database programming, and sensors. The database assignment helped us begin to understand how Intelligent buildings work, by having databases, sensors and a software that allow us to manipulate the building's constraints. 

          Adding on, the guest lecturers and the videos were all very interesting and helpful, they would relate to a certain topic introduced by Prof. Mitchell, and at the same time explain a whole new topic. I believe that no other class had given us an introduction to futuristic technologies like AE 410. Even though we might have heard of some of them, we had not really dug into topics such as concrete 3D printing, BIM, Drone Scanning, Artificial Intelligence, etc. If I had to choose my favorite thing about this course, I would certainly choose the Database assignment and the in-class videos. The database assignment introduces a not only unknown, but very practical topic for an engineer, and in-class videos provided vast explanations of the topics Prof. Mitchell introduced in class. On the other hand, if I could change something about this course, I would probably try to make the class more engaging and increase participation. For example, some in-class videos could be watched at home with a short reflection, and we could use that time in class for activities related to futuristic interesting topics. An example activity could be a breakdown sketch of how 3D printing concrete works. 

          All in all, I believe that classes like this are the ones that set Drexel apart from other universities. Most universities will teach you the same subjects with very few variations, but courses like Intelligent Buildings give Drexel students an advantage over other graduates, since it makes us aware of how the construction world is evolving, and how we can and should evolve with it. 

Main Source:

Carlos Hillinger: in-class experience.

Comments:

Joshua:

Joshua, Thanks for sharing your reflection with us. I see that you liked certain things about the course that I also included in my post, such as how green structures can be innovated. I also liked that you particularly mentioned energy capture for sustainability, it was certainly one of the most interesting topics over the term. Your post is very specific and self explanatory, good work.

Allison:

Allison, I believe that that your post is very honest and accurate. I also found Derek's lecture quite interesting, BIM is definitely one of the topics I was looking forward in this class and he made an excellent job explaining it. The online guest lecturer we had on intelligent building was also helpful to introduce the BIM topic to the class. I agree on your comments about the database assignments and how it relates to INFO 210. Great post!

Thomas:

Thomas, In my opinion your post was very accurate and specific. I like how you used your own real life example from  your future job to show how useful this class is and how the construction world is evolving. I agree, Dynamo is a tool that we will be using more and more, especially for structural members. Maybe it would have been helpful to have a short assignment related to Dynamo as a short intro to what we might encounter in our jobs. Thanks for sharing, great post.