The ARCE program facilities include lecture space, teaching labs, computer teaching labs, computer labs, experimental labs and office space. In addition the University library is a valuable resource for the students and faculty.  The ARCE department is located in Building 21 (Engineering West). 

Teaching Laboratories

There are currently four teaching laboratories dedicated to the ARCE program (Rooms 122A/ B/ D/ E).  These four labs are the core teaching rooms for the program. Each is set up with large drafting style tables with storage below.  The rooms contain at least 16 such tables (some contain as many as 18), large chalkboard space, overhead projector, slide projector and a campus Internet connection.  All labs have wireless access to the campus system and the program server. E-lab (Room 122E) is a “smart room” with full projector and Internet capability. These labs are used for the program’s design laboratory classes, which generally meet three times per week for three hours each meeting.   The favorable student/faculty ratio allows for one-on-one faculty to student contact that is needed for the success of the program.

First Floor Facility Map

Second Floor Facility Map

Design Lab

Computer Teaching Laboratories

The department has one computer teaching facility (Room 121C) that is set up for 16 students and an instructor for the purpose of teaching the four computer skills courses in the program.  The facility was designed and built, including tables, by program students as a senior project to meet their specific needs.  The program also maintains and operates an additional computer lab (Scarab Lab) available primarily to upper division students for advanced studies and interdisciplinary work with construction management students.  In addition, the teaching labs all have several computers on the side walls that are available to students.

Computer Teaching Lab

Experimental Laboratories

The program maintains and operates three experimental labs and shares a fourth with construction management.  The concrete yard is an experimental assembly and project use area.  The seismic lab contains a classroom space for 16 students and houses a large instructional shake table.  The experimental lab contains a classroom space for 30 students and 5 workstations.  The workstations are set up primarily with small-scale test machines and, in the future, will be wired for full “smart-room” capability.  Also in this facility is a small shake table and several testing machines including two new electromechanical testing machines.

Concrete Yard

Seismic Lab Shake Table

 

Electromechanical Testing Machine

 

 

The High Bay lab is the main experimental facility.  The space has classroom space for 16 students, a tension/compression machine and a strong floor area with a jacking frame for research work.  The high bay area serves as the construction and testing facility for a majority of the experimentally focused senior projects.  Plans for this area include the addition of a strong wall and electronic support for cyclic testing and data recovery.

High Bay Laboratory

 

 

Tension/Compression Machine and Data Receiver

 

 

The concrete lab is shared with the construction management department.  This lab is supplied with all the tools needed to mix and place concrete.  The primary use for this facility is ARCE 444 and ARCE 452 and senior projects.

Concrete Lab work Tables

 

 

Below is the geo-sciences teaching lab which supports the laboratory component of ARCE 421 Soil Mechanics. The lab is equipped to conduct standard soils testing experiments such as sieve analyses, compaction, consolidation, permeability, and direct shear tests.

Geo-sciences teaching lab