Sine City
The Sine City project was a project in which us students from High Tech High North County created a plan for the redevelopment of the Creek District of San Marcos. The City of San Marcos envisions this area of becoming a new downtown, a place where people of all ages can come around and have fun, doing some shopping, and above all spend some money. In this project we used the site plans and regulations based off of information the City of San Marcos has declared, to create our own models of unique plots of land. In the end, we created one large model from laser cut wood, to display what OUR ideal downtown would look like. The purpose of this project was to integrate trigonometric concepts into a real world application like building. The trigonometric application came largely in the form of sun-path analysis. Students also tackled other math concepts such as geometry and the golden ratio.
Throughout the project, students had time learning the concepts of trigonometry as well as time to implement them into this project. To begin the project, we learned a lot about trigonometry(specifically law of sines, cosines, right triangle trigonometry). From there, we were given groups to work on designing a specified plot of land. Each group assigned reading sections from the document of San Marcos Development ideas and regulations in order to create a realistic design for downtown. This portion of the project focused heavily on urban planning. To design environments in cities requires a special ability to stay creative while being within the guidelines. In order to successfully plan a group of structures into a single lot, it took multiple designs and a lot of brain power. To get a greater understanding of the plot we had to design on, it was important to understand our area. To do that, we went on a quick field trip to survey the area. Surveying to me relies heavily on teamwork and chemistry between team members. This teamwork is important when measuring long distances and using the visuals to brainstorm ideas. The architectural design of the buildings we made were heavily influenced by the job we did surveying. Many groups used concepts such as the golden ratio in order to make their plots as beautiful as possible. Other groups looked to inspiration from famous and amazing buildings to design masterpieces of their own. All of this design may have come for nothing if it wasn't for the engineering done at the end of the project. Though a broad subject, constructing the Adobe Illustrator files and piecing them together can easily be considered to be in the field of engineering. Being able to visualize and see the product we created made sure that we knew what we did wrong, and what we did right. The Adobe Illustrator sketches required students to follow closely to the site plans and create the walls of buildings while using math to scale sizes. My group exhibited engineering qualities by implemented an arduino into our design to control LED's(to look like streetlights). This required creative thinking and applications of math and sciences to make a working product. While the experience was amazing, I feel as if these words do not do it justice. Therefore here are some pictures from throughout the project beginning with pictures of our plot
Throughout the project, students had time learning the concepts of trigonometry as well as time to implement them into this project. To begin the project, we learned a lot about trigonometry(specifically law of sines, cosines, right triangle trigonometry). From there, we were given groups to work on designing a specified plot of land. Each group assigned reading sections from the document of San Marcos Development ideas and regulations in order to create a realistic design for downtown. This portion of the project focused heavily on urban planning. To design environments in cities requires a special ability to stay creative while being within the guidelines. In order to successfully plan a group of structures into a single lot, it took multiple designs and a lot of brain power. To get a greater understanding of the plot we had to design on, it was important to understand our area. To do that, we went on a quick field trip to survey the area. Surveying to me relies heavily on teamwork and chemistry between team members. This teamwork is important when measuring long distances and using the visuals to brainstorm ideas. The architectural design of the buildings we made were heavily influenced by the job we did surveying. Many groups used concepts such as the golden ratio in order to make their plots as beautiful as possible. Other groups looked to inspiration from famous and amazing buildings to design masterpieces of their own. All of this design may have come for nothing if it wasn't for the engineering done at the end of the project. Though a broad subject, constructing the Adobe Illustrator files and piecing them together can easily be considered to be in the field of engineering. Being able to visualize and see the product we created made sure that we knew what we did wrong, and what we did right. The Adobe Illustrator sketches required students to follow closely to the site plans and create the walls of buildings while using math to scale sizes. My group exhibited engineering qualities by implemented an arduino into our design to control LED's(to look like streetlights). This required creative thinking and applications of math and sciences to make a working product. While the experience was amazing, I feel as if these words do not do it justice. Therefore here are some pictures from throughout the project beginning with pictures of our plot
As a math project, it is expected that we learned a lot of math. I felt as if this project helped the ideas of trig become concrete in our head. If needed, we could find missing sides or angles of shapes using the Law of Sines. During the Site Analysis in specific, I used Law of Sines to find unknown heights of tree's and other tall objects. We learned that the golden ratio makes designs look a lot better, and you can tell by its prevalence all around us(for example google's logo). Before this project, I didn't even know what a sun-path was, there is no way I would know how to read one. After a little practice now, I believe that most of the class would be able to tell you where the sun would be in the sky at any time. When students enter high-school, the only axis they know for graphs are basic cartesian coordinates marked by x and y. Throughout this year, we learned more about graphing with polar coordinates. Not only can we graph with two dimensions, but polar coordinates bring a whole other dimension into the mix. When creating aesthetically pleasing buildings, it was very important that they were symmetrical, and all the aspects looked neat. Knowing where to "transform" a window across the plane of a building face could very well mean the difference between a work of art, and something that belongs in the trash can.
From this project, I feel as if I became a better mathematician due to the reinforcement of trigonometric math. This by far has been the strongest application of trig I have done, and it strayed away from the usual unit circle graphing. Also, this project stretched my creative mind by letting me free while keeping me in a box full of regulations. Our group faced the challenge of ALWAYS finding new regulations that would shove our design back to the drawing board. Things like Floor Area Ratio, Building Setbacks, and Minimum height caused us to create over 4 different designs. In the end, we resolved this problem by carefully going over many of the regulations (I believe that were outlined in either or a mixture of chapters 2,3,6 and 7) and insuring ourselves that we finally made the changes necessary to pass regulations. The part of the project I enjoyed the most was integrating our own special touch with the LED's connected to a switch. I believe this made our building stand out, and that made it 100 times more fun to present.
Speaking of exhibition, this exhibition involved more people than any exhibition I have been a part of. By mixing all of the 11th graders, this exhibition could easily have been a mess. Instead, a dedicated group of students and Mrs. GC were able to plan everything smoothly. Because of the LED's standing out from the rest of the buildings, I found that we received more visitors than the average group. This kept our table busy, and the time moving fast. As a presenter in the beginning of the exhibition, I was given my 20 seconds of fame by explaining examples of where students took the extra step to make their project better. I enjoyed this part tremendously, because I feel like the opportunity to push yourself is one of the things that sets HTHNC out from the rest of the schools, and is one of the reasons why I love it.
From this project, I feel as if I became a better mathematician due to the reinforcement of trigonometric math. This by far has been the strongest application of trig I have done, and it strayed away from the usual unit circle graphing. Also, this project stretched my creative mind by letting me free while keeping me in a box full of regulations. Our group faced the challenge of ALWAYS finding new regulations that would shove our design back to the drawing board. Things like Floor Area Ratio, Building Setbacks, and Minimum height caused us to create over 4 different designs. In the end, we resolved this problem by carefully going over many of the regulations (I believe that were outlined in either or a mixture of chapters 2,3,6 and 7) and insuring ourselves that we finally made the changes necessary to pass regulations. The part of the project I enjoyed the most was integrating our own special touch with the LED's connected to a switch. I believe this made our building stand out, and that made it 100 times more fun to present.
Speaking of exhibition, this exhibition involved more people than any exhibition I have been a part of. By mixing all of the 11th graders, this exhibition could easily have been a mess. Instead, a dedicated group of students and Mrs. GC were able to plan everything smoothly. Because of the LED's standing out from the rest of the buildings, I found that we received more visitors than the average group. This kept our table busy, and the time moving fast. As a presenter in the beginning of the exhibition, I was given my 20 seconds of fame by explaining examples of where students took the extra step to make their project better. I enjoyed this part tremendously, because I feel like the opportunity to push yourself is one of the things that sets HTHNC out from the rest of the schools, and is one of the reasons why I love it.