8 Applied Design

Bridge Design
Design Situation:
You are the head design team at Bridges, Bridges,
Bridges. You have been commissioned by JPC to design
and prototype a footbridge to span the lake in front of the
Applied Design building. With the recent downturn in the
economy your company has been struggling to make a
profit. Your investors are pushing for a good profit margin
on your upcoming bridge project.

As well as the need for a good profit margin, JPC is a school

that is focussed upon sustainability. They have expressed
their desire to have an environmentally low impact bridge.
As such your bosses have indicated that the bridge must
be constructed out of environmentally sourced timbers.

You have access to various materials but each size and type of material has a set price. As investors are pushing
for more profit this year, your team must aim to keep your bridge on budget. The materials shop will be open
throughout the first 10 minutes of each lesson and you are to purchase your materials. You have a budget of
$100.00.

Parameters:
You must work in groups of 2-3 people
Your bridge must span 400mm
It must have a walkway
It must hold at least 25kg
You must produce a 3d drawing of your bridge using
Autodesk Inventor
You must produce a folio documenting your work
All work must be completed within the 8 week time frame

Design Brief:
In groups of 2 or 3, design, model and construct an environmentally sustainable and economically viable
prototype of a bridge that can span a distance of 400mm and hold a weight of at least 25kg.

Material Pricing:

Part Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10

Description
Walkway
Large MDF Beam
Small MDF Beam
Large Timber
Beam
Small Timber
Beam
Truss
String
Nails
Glue

Material
MDF
MDF
MDF

Size
70x30x500mm
16x7x600mm
16x3x600mm

Price -5 Price +5
$25.00
$30.00
$5.00
$7.00
$3.00
$5.00

Timber

20x4.5x600mm

$7.00

$10.00

Timber
Timber
String
Steel
-

20x2.5x600mm
$5.00
10x2.5.600mm
$3.00
1000mm
$1.00
20mm
Free
Free

$7.00
$5.00
$2.00

Design Process

Exploring a
design
problem

Producing
products

Evaluation

Developing
ideas

Design Folio
Explore the design problem
1. Situation (including inspiration): Find some relevant stimulus material and produce an inspiration idea. It
can be in the form of photos, images, cartoon images etc
2. Design Brief: Take the Design Brief from the task sheet and use your stimulus material to modify the
design brief to
Develop the ideas
1. Sketch possible ideas, make sure they are fully labelled and explained, min three ideas.
2. Develop a scaled 1:1 drawing of your design and its pieces that must fit onto of an A4 page. This must
have all necessary sizes and dimensions.
3. Transfer your scaled sheet onto inventor and produce a working drawing of your design. Must include
Top, Front, Side views as well as a 3D view.
Produce the task
1. After completing the necessary safety instruction work, produce your design
2. Take photos of your finished work.
3. Look carefully at your finished design and write a short evaluation: did it work?, what went wrong? Did it
need changing along the way? How would you improve it?

Standard Achieved

Criteria
Exceptional

High

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Investigation

Evidence of extensive
research and planning
displayed in an
exceptionally effective
and innovative approach.

Very high level of

research and planning
displayed in an
effective and
innovative approach.

High level of
research and
planning displayed
through application
of relevant
information.

Adequate level of
research and
planning displayed
through limited
application of
information.

Inadequate level
of research and
planning;
inappropriate use
of information,
limited application.

Evaluation

Exceptional evaluation
with outstanding selfreflection evidencing an
awareness of external
issues.

Very high evaluation

with excellent selfreflection evidencing
external issues.

Significant
evaluation with
self-reflection.

Evaluation with selfreflection skills.

Limited evaluation
with limited
reflection skills.

Development

Outstanding development
using exceptional layout
and scheming.

Excellent development
using high quality
layout and scheming.

Very good
development using
quality layout and
scheming.

Good development
using layout and
scheming.

Poor development
using limited
layout and
scheming.

Literacy

Exceptional use of
literacy skills using
proper spelling and
sentence structure.

Excellent use of
literacy skills using
proper spelling and
sentence structure.

Very Good use of

literacy skills using
proper spelling and
sentence structure.

Good use of literacy

skills using proper
spelling and
sentence structure.

Poor use of literacy

skills with
improper spelling
and sentence
structure.

Numeracy

Exceptional use of
numeracy skills using
proper calculations.

Excellent use of
numeracy skills using
proper calculations.

Very good use of

numeracy skills
using proper
calculations.

Good use of
numeracy skills
using proper
calculations.

Poor use of
numeracy skills
using improper
calculations.