Engineering Students Get Tour of Foundry Row Site

Many people are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the future Wegman’s supermarket at the Foundry Row shopping center. But only our 12th grade engineering class students got a tour of the construction site from the civil engineer, architect and CEO of Greenberg Gibbons, the real estate developer bringing this store to our area.

“Our students were impressed with not only the planning that goes into such a project, but also the people interaction aspects of civil engineering,” shares engineering teacher Mr. Neville Jacobs. “As compared to the earlier field trips where they met engineers who create complex projects from well-defined objectives, what really struck them about civil engineers was how they get involved with the discussions and negotiations on project definition in addition to their implementation.”

Mr. Gustavo Arango, the project’s civil engineer and project manager, described the steps taken and the plans that had to be submitted for approval; Mr. Paul Van Riley, the architect, gave the class a detailed account of the architectural details that had to be worked out; Greenberg Gibbons CEO Mr. Brian Gibbons then described various types of malls and shopping centers and what factors make them successful. “It was all extremely interesting for our students and it was something that they would never have considered on a regular shopping trip,” notes Mr. Jacobs. “The visit to the site that followed made it all very real to them, and some may now be considering this field as a possible career choice.”

The students found several aspects of this field surprising.

“The project manager, who in this case is a civil engineer, has to juggle so many different people and tasks to ensure that the project gets finished on-time and within the budget,” remarked Seth S. ’15, noting that it’s a role that requires considerable amounts of patience and flexibility.

“Many people look at shopping centers and malls without much interest or thought of how they came to be in existence,” observed Eli A. ’15. “They do not see all the careful planning, tedious paperwork, or physical labor that went into its construction...they take commercial developments for granted.” The construction development process includes getting funding, zoning, input from marketers about community needs and interests, drafting architectural plans and, finally, construction – which has plenty of obstacles to contend with as well.

Shoshana M. ’15 was surprised by how long the entire process takes. She learned that “engineers must plan intensely for up to three years just to get the zoning approved.” The site visit showed her “the complex procedures these engineers must use in order to create a successful product,” giving her “a better understanding of what civil engineering is.”
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Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School

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Baltimore’s only Jewish independent preparatory school serving PreSchool through Grade 12.