It's a Three-Peat

Clock’s ticking.

General contractor and building firm UNICO’s hard at work to win over their potential client, the city of San Francisco. The city wants to build a fire station on a port. It must be two stories, have all the amenities of a typical fire station, and it must be done in 22 months within a budget of $33.5 million.

With less than 10 hours before deadline, the city sends an addendum. They would like to consider an option for the station to be built on a floating foundation. UNICO’s at an impasse—they have worked on their proposal with a fixed foundation. Committing to a floating foundation would require a vast rework to their proposal. UNICO’s employees are split—start over or continue with the work that has already been done?

Reasoned, impassioned debate monopolizes the team’s focus. Capitulating, the team appeals to project executive Arminda Diaz. Make an executive decision, they ask. Diaz weighs in—let’s move forward with what we’ve worked on thus far, with supplemental analysis of the feasibility of a floating foundation.

It was the right decision. UNICO won the contract and the student team went on to win first place in the competition for the third year in a row…

… Pulling back the curtain

UNICO isn’t a real construction firm and the client’s request is just as make-believe. This was the scenario put forth in a student competition, the 2021 ASC Design-Build competition. It’s the largest of its kind, and tasks student teams with winning over fictional clients as fictional construction, design and architecture firms. Typically, crafting a proposal for the client is a long process, but the competition crunches it down to a 16 hour challenge. Conceptual design, cost analysis, construction scheduling, mechanical electrical and plumbing, sustainability analysis—all this and more must be done within less than a day.

“I feel so happy. The amount of work we put into this is so much outside of school and work. So when you get the news that you won first place, it’s paid off.” - Arminda Diaz, construction engineering student and project executive of the student team

Challenging to be sure, and only exacerbated by this year’s virtual format. But for Ayman Jaber, civil engineering student and lead architect, it’s “EZ, money, baby.” The team’s architecture firm is called E.M.B Architects.

They’ve done this before

This isn’t the first or second time a CPP Engineering team’s won this competition. It’s their third in a row—the last time this happened in the competition’s history was over 15 years ago.

“I feel so happy. The amount of work we put into this is so much outside of school and work,” says Arminda Diaz, construction engineering student team captain and project executive for the team’s construction firm, UNICO. “So when you get the news that you won first place, it’s paid off.”

For Diaz, she’s been a part of all three winning teams and has received internships and job offers through the competition. In fact, all her teammates have internships.

For the 2021 competition, the team ran away with the win. Judges, who work in the construction industry, were baffled by how the team was able to assemble their proposal in a mere 16 hours. Bafflement turned into a soft interrogation, where judges asked very technical and difficult questions to make sure the proposal wasn’t smoke and mirrors. The harder the questions, the better the chances your presentation was very good, Diaz notes.

Real-world in microcosm

From client request to project proposal, this is a true learn by doing experience. Every part of the competition calls forth real-world skills in construction management.

“I started from zero and learned the process of construction. The only thing you need is passion.” - Sepehr Ramshini, construction engineering student and the team’s preconstruction manager

“Basically, it’s a simulation of what happens in the real-world. When an owner wants to build a building, it’ll ask companies to create a design and another to build it for them,” says Assistant Professor Jeyoung Woo from civil engineering and faculty advisor for the team.

The winning teams are always a combination of rookies and veterans. Veterans lead the rookies, the rookies become veterans, and the veterans graduate. The cycle has proven to be sustainable.

“I started from zero and learned the process of construction,” says Sepehr Ramshini, construction engineering student and the team’s preconstruction manager. “The only thing you need is passion.”

What’s next

The team is always recruiting. Like Ramshini says, the only requisite is passion.

“Even new students get familiar with topics and industry, and they become so confident in their area and career path,” says Woo. “They’re more engaged and motivated in the classroom and want to share and help others to succeed.”

For Diaz, she’s graduating and is pondering her job offers. While she’s leaving the team, she takes with her lifelong friends.

“My teammates are my best friends. I go to them for whatever—career or personal life advice that I need,” she says.

She leaves a final farewell: “Thanks for putting up with the crazy schedule for the past year, and sorry I forgot to feed you guys lunch sometimes.”

Interested in joining the team? Contact Arminda Diaz atarmindadiaz98@gmail.com or (760) 504-7247.