chaos ensuing?

ok - so jet lag is comin' on big-time, along with the voluntary (or is it in-voluntary? :-) consumption of delicious Austrian (enriched white flour) pastries, rolls, pastries, rolls... and other delicacies.

As i launch into my 2nd day at the FHS (that's applied sciences university) here in Austria.  The skies have cleared a bit and as usual, it is just breath-taking to look straight up in the Alp Valleys to see towering mountains.  Although the actual elevations are around 5-6,000ft., they seem taller given the perspective from the low-lying valleys.  somebody pinch me...

project scope
i'm getting a handle on the project that I'll be working on next week:  there will be around 120+ students with ~12 teachers trying to advise and guide them in some sort of direction.  This will surely result on some chaos: trying to herd all these students through an intense 4-day process within limited workspaces and teachers.

The project is an abandoned USA military base, although before that it was used by the German military - so perhaps there won't be the super-fund site issues of buried and ignored toxins all too commonplace in the continental US?

Yesterday, i already learned more cool things about eco-energy perspectives.  i was polishing up some queen's english documents for the project and ran across a couple concepts called 'exergy' and ...

brannenburg project areas:  Here are the five areas that each student group must assess in their submittals:

1.  architectural and urban design

- urban swot analysis (geogr., exist buildings, transport infrastructure, open space)

- structural sketches of the urban development (redevelopment or new buildings)

- place and size of the different types of use and the buildings

- only for master degree: key data for the economic feasibility

2. energetic building optimization concept

- definition of the energetic building concept

- floor plan sketches of typical buildings

- energy consumption of the buildings kWh/m²a and overall kWh/a

- only for master degree: key data for the economic feasibility

3. local energy concept

- selection of local energy resources (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, waste heat, )

- selection of technologies for a zero net energy / zero net CO2 - campus (including students and lecture transportation).

- CO2 balance for a year (heating/cooling, warm water & transportation)

- only for master degree: key data for the economic feasibility

4. mobility concept

- estimation of the future transportation needs

- concept for a low energy / emission transfer of students and lectures between Munich-campus and at the campus itself

- energy consumption for the mobility kWh/Person*a and overall kWh/a

- infrastructure design

- only for master degree: key data for the economic feasibility

5. economic feasibility & organisation (public private partnership) - only for master degree

- evaluation of economic efficiency

- proposal for a ppp-announcement

- economical prospects and risks

  ...stay tuned.... today there will be a 5 hour meeting with the core teacher team to coordinate student guidance activities.