{"id":15980,"date":"2009-11-12T14:41:50","date_gmt":"2009-11-12T21:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=15980"},"modified":"2015-08-17T14:54:10","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T21:54:10","slug":"students-design-transit-shelters-for-grand-canyon-gateway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/students-design-transit-shelters-for-grand-canyon-gateway\/","title":{"rendered":"Students design transit shelters for Grand Canyon gateway"},"content":{"rendered":"

When senior environmental engineering major\u00a0Leslie Ayres<\/strong>\u00a0steps into the workforce this May, the terrain will be familiar thanks to her real-world experience at Northern Arizona University.<\/p>\n

Ayers, along with\u00a0Michelle Mallett<\/strong>, who recently received a bachelor\u2019s degree in interior design from NAU, designed sustainable shuttle bus shelters for Tusayan, the gateway to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.<\/p>\n

Construction for the shelters is scheduled to begin in the spring.<\/p>\n

During 2009 summer internships produced by a partnership with NAU\u2019s Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Program and the Grand Canyon National Park, the students conceptualized a design for environmentally friendly, comfortable, open-air shelters that will showcase the Grand Canyon\u2019s commitment to sustainability.<\/p>\n

The student design offers a host of environmental benefits, such as reducing air and light pollution and protecting natural, cultural and historic resources. The design also includes features for a safe and energy-efficient alternative means of transportation, such as shuttles, between the Grand Canyon National Park\u2019s Visitor Center and the community of Tusayan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the fact that I now have experience with things outside the classroom,\u201d Ayres says. \u201cI can’t wait to go through the area and see the shelters being built or going up there after completion and saying \u2018yep, this came from my brain and Michelle\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to achieve the design benefits, Ayres and Mallett worked closely with the Grand Canyon National Park, the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Americans with Disabilities Act and personnel in charge of local and state building regulations.\u00a0Susan Thomas<\/strong>, a professor in NAU\u2019s Construction Management Program, and\u00a0Helen Peterson<\/strong>, a professor of interior design in the College of Arts and Letters, were faculty advisers on the project. Both are accredited professionals in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.<\/p>\n

Ayres and Mallet, both hoping for LEED certification for the shelters, sought to use locally provided materials for the construction while designing a structure that complements existing Grand Canyon National Park architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe internships with the park allow our students the chance to work with students and people in other disciplines,\u201d Thomas says. \u201cThis is how the real world is operating when it comes to sustainable building, so our internships provide experiences similar to the ones students will face upon graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"transit<\/a>
Final artist rendering of the transit shelters for the Tusayan area of the Grand Canyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ayres and Mallet also had to keep the future in mind when designing their project.<\/p>\n

These shelters are anticipated to be integrated into a major Tusayan streetscape upgrade project that will blend the proposed shelters into the future multiuse paths and landscaping upgrades.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding and interpreting the needs and wants of the client was a challenge. I learned for future projects that understanding needs to be clear before starting major project tasks,\u201d Ayres says. \u201cAnother challenge was finding and understanding all of the regulations that go into building a structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayres added that the experience has helped her build career goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project has made me realize that I truly want to be an engineer,\u201d she says. \u201cNow that I know what actually happens, I am excited to be going into the workforce in May.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayres and Mallett\u2019s transit design is being showcased at the\u00a0Greenbuild conference<\/a>\u00a0in Phoenix this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When senior environmental engineering major\u00a0Leslie Ayres\u00a0steps into the workforce this May, the terrain will be familiar thanks to her real-world experience at Northern Arizona University. Ayers, along with\u00a0Michelle Mallett, who recently received a bachelor\u2019s degree in interior design from NAU, designed sustainable shuttle bus shelters for Tusayan, the gateway to the South Rim of the…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":15981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}