Final Group Conceptual Design Project

The design alternatives will be presented in a written report and in an oral presentation. In both, the objectives of the reporting are

1. provide enough context on the physical setting and stakeholder input (e.g. Conservation Action Plan, discussions with stakeholders) to be able to explain how your design alternatives address goals and objectives
2.  explain design alternatives with enough detail that client can make an informed choice as to whether each alternative is worth pursuing further. This is a delicate balance - these are only design alternatives that have not been subjected to detailed evaluation. At the same time, you can't make questions like "can that be built?" "what will it cost?" go away. There are no hard and fast rules on this, because it depends on the nature and complexity of each design alternative. What you need to do is think hard about each alternative and do what you can to identify and address what are likely to be the key questions.
3. Evaluate the pros and cons of the different proposed alternatives, making clear what each can and cannot do.
4. Make sure to carefully consider and include the learning component of the proposed alternatives. Explicitly state assumptions and design hypotheses. If you are saying that an alternative will provide more fish, or more birds, or happier hikers, or whatever, explain the basis for that statement and how construction and monitoring of the project will provide a test of the hypothesis and/or an opportunity to learn.
5. Sell!

 A note: even though some alternatives may be developed to primarily meet particular objectives, you need to consider how each alternative impacts *all *objectives.

Oral presentation: you will each have 20 minutes for your presentation, followed by 10 minutes of questions. The presentations should be professional, meaning clear, well organized, and practiced. Please also submit your PowerPoint as a PDF.

Written report: These should be well written and well illustrated. The report should stand on its own. That is, you are not writing the report for somebody that already knows all about the assignment. Imagine that the report gets filed away and somebody brings it out five years from now. They should be able to read the report and understand the context, the proposed alternatives, and the evaluation of the alternatives without prior knowledge of the site or issues. We will not give an explicit page limit for the report, but it is hard to imagine that an adequate job could be done with less than, say, 8-10 pages of text plus all the necessary illustrations. You may well find that you need more. This should be a polished product.

Written reports are due the night before: Thursday 6, December.