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PHCC Drafting Students Exhibiting Work

Jessica Bair/SUNCOAST

PHCC STUDENT SEAN OGBOURNE, seated center, opens an AutoCAD sample drawing while student Nicholas Schnitzler, back to camera, observes and student teaching assistant William Halversen points out a feature of the 3-D computer drawing. PHCC Drafting and Design Instructor Jack Plant is at far right.

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By Jessica  Bair | The Suncoast News

Published: December 19, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - From conception to construction, students in the drafting and design technology program at Pasco-Hernando Community College have been working hard all semester to create original building models.

Their assignments and class projects will be showcased in a collection at the PHCC art gallery in the Alric C.T. Pottberg Library, on the college's West Campus, 10230 Ridge Road, from Jan. 4 until Jan. 28.

The Student Drafting and Design Exhibition will include manual drawings, three-dimensional computer-assisted-design solid models, 3-D CAD architectural models and physical scale models.

Submissions come from students with varying levels of expertise and experience, ranging in talent from a 14-year-old dual enrollment student to 36-year-old returning student, will be in the exhibition.

"After they learn how to draw the concept, then they move to computer design," says Jack Plant, the drafting and design instructor, of how the design process begins.

All of his students learn how to create 2-D and 3-D models using "demanding software," Plant said.

AutoCAD, from Autodesk Inc., was one of the first CAD programs developed for the personal computer, while Chief Architect is a professional home-design software package.

The next step is to print out the design on heavy paper, which is then cut out and glued or assembled together with other items like foam core, modeling wood and tool parts.

"They got real ambition and do most of the work themselves," Plant says of his students, who typically go on to work as engineers, entry level drafters or architects.

"They are certainly bright people that will become millionaires when they work in the business," he added.

Models of houses, boats and other buildings, like a recreation facility built by student Zachary Justice, will be on display.

In conjunction with this exhibit, a Sustainable-Green Design Fair and gallery reception will be held Jan. 10 at PHCC West Campus. Local businesses will display sustainable or green products and services outside the library art gallery from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The fair will focus on better ways to build and how to be energy efficient, says Plant. It will also explore new architectural technology and strategies for creating buildings to last a lifetime.

In addition, Developing Drafters & Designers 3-D Club at PHCC will hold an opening reception in the art gallery from 6 to 8 p.m.

These events are free and open to the public.

Regular viewing hours at the gallery are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For more information about private viewings or to schedule a group event, call 727-816-3229.

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