Environmental Science Project by Mr. Veale's Class

The MHS Environmental Science students under the direction of Mr. Veale were caught having fun learning while designing and building a city in the desert of Saudi Arabia that would house approximately 4,000 workers in an oilfield operation and their families.
 

Environmental  Science  Project by Mr. Veale’s Class

As a substitute teacher in schools, I am sometimes able to draw on my experience in industry and apply what I know in the education arena.  When we built a new unit in a chemical plant, the contractor would build a scale model of the unit, so that the client could see how it would look, and it gave a reference later if conflicts arose.

The Environmental Science class took on as a semester project, to design and build a city in the desert of Saudi Arabia that would house approximately 4,000 workers in an oilfield operation and their families.  Working together, we figured out how many houses and apartments were needed, we sized a school and hospital, determined how much water was needed, where to get it, how to get power, and what services and amenities were desired.

Drawing on studies we had done earlier, buildings would be of 3-d printed concrete, due to lower cost and higher durability.  Since water was available at a 300-foot depth, it was 90% cheaper to drill a well than to desalinate sea water from the Persian Gulf.

Power will be provided by windmills and solar panels located farther from the town than was available with our scale, which was: one inch on the model was equal to 30 feet in reality.  Waste incineration and disposal is also off the model.  While there are green areas shown, some may be artificial turf if real grass cannot be cultivated.

An aggressive water reuse plan will have all gray (used) water reclaimed and treated to be potable (fit for human use).

This was the first time most of these students had dome a scale model of this magnitude.  I was surprised how well they did, and how well they worked together.  The pictures are of the class and the model.