Some Pretty Big Ideas!

Objective – Write a three page research paper that explains the rationale, impact, and aesthetic influence of any one of ten (10) major construction projects.

Instructions – Examine the photographs in this folder. They are a few examples of some pretty ambitious thinking, and very successful outcomes.

The photographs you are looking at are of the following:

  • The Woodard Bay log sorting docks - This area, at the northern tip of the south sound, was where Weyerhaeuser logs found their way, after journeying along-the now named-Chehalis Western Trail;(See the 11/5/2010 copy of The Daily Olympian for an update!)
  • Stonehenge Replica – located along the north shore of the Columbia River, ten miles upriver river from The Dalles dam, it was constructed to honor those who served and lost their lives in The First World War;
  • The Gospodor Monuments – located about 15 miles south of Centralia, near west Toledo, along I-5, they are the determined result of a philanthropist from Bellevue, WA. (See the 9/22/2010 edition of TheDaily Olympian for a very good article on this work!);
  • The Grand Coulee Dam – The proud gem of eastern Washington, it is a monument to the work of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, back in the 1930’s;
  • TheAstoriaBridge – Just over four miles in total length, it crosses theColumbia River, and connects the state of Washington with the state of Oregon, at the town of Astoria;
  • The Narrows Bridges – They cross the one-mile wide Narrows Channel west of the City of Tacoma. The first one-made principally of steel-opened in 1940, but collapsed in a November storm in 1941. Reconstructed after WWII, it reopened in 1950. Its sister bridge-built of concrete-opened in 2007;
  • Tumwater Falls – The dam, and its amazing set of fish ladders, which were built in 1952;
  • McMinnville Flight Museums – Outside of the city of McMinnville, Oregon, they house some of the most famous air and space craft ever constructed, including Howard Hughes’s famous, “Spruce Goose” – its horizontal stabilizer shown here towering above a Boeing built B-17!
  • WashingtonState Ferries – They shuttle thousands of people a year between the islands and mainland in WashingtonState.

Activity

Research any one of these famous structures and compose a three page paper on your research findings. You are free to discover your own Big Idea (not even included in these photographs, for example, is the Space Needle!), but before you write, check the idea with your instructor!

20 Possible Points