USI unveiled the Minka house at a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. The dwelling, one of the first of its kind, was built on campus in less than a week and designed by nationally-renowned aging expert Dr. Bill Thomas. The Minka was designed using universal design accessibility and advanced manufacturing technology and will serve as a model house and simulation lab for USI students across multiple disciplines.
Learn more from the 2018 press release here.
Inside Indiana Business Interview - December 26, 2018
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Construction Updates
Dr. Adam Tennant, assistant professor of Engineering, and his CE381 (Soil Mechanics) students perform initial soil tests at the anticipated site of the MAGIC Model House on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana.
"Sampling soil is vital so that subsequent tests can be performed to identify the soil type and discover the behavior of the soil," said Tennant. "We used a hand auger with a 3-1/4” head to drill into the soil at three different locations. We collected the soil at various depths to determine the moisture content of the soil in situ."
Additionally, the students collected all the soil at a depth of around 3 feet to determine, gradation (size of particles), specific weight, plasticity, permeability and will collect more samples at later dates during the semester.
The students returned to the Minka site again October. They had an excavator dig some soil which they will study in the soil lab for this year and in years to come. They have performed about eight geotechnical experiments on the soil so far. For another assignment in the Construction Estimating class, also taught by Tennant, two of the students also documented some of the construction activities and interviewed one of the laborers.
