THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
NEWS
5A
DESIGN
Andrew Wacker/KANSAN
Natalie Bonebrake, Topeka senior, and Shane Ball, Lawrence resident, work together in the Industrial Design studio. Bonebrake and Ball created "Zero-Impact Urban Mobility" design for the Interior Motives Design Awards competition.
Pods one idea for future of transit
BY JEFF DETERS
jdeters@kansan.com
Natalia Bonebrake has plans for the future. In 20 to 30 years she envisions a problem of overpopulated cities and a need for more efficient and environmental-friendly transportation.
Her solution to those problems?
The "Zero-Pod."
Bonebrake, Topeka senior and industrial design major, and design partner Shane Ball, Lawrence resident, created a futuristic design called "Zero-Impact Urban Mobility." The design recommended a transport system with one-man cars — or pods — running from station to station. The pods would connect to a rail system and users would travel
about the city similar to how a train or subway system did but with no localized emissions.
"I thought it was a very cool plan," she said.
The design was one of 50 that competed in the fifth-annual Interior Motives Design Awards, which focuses on interior automotive design. For the project, Bonebrake did the modeling and Ball performed the designing, researching and Photoshop work.
"We worked together on everything from the start," said Ball, who is currently working for MHT Luxury Alloys, a wheel and accessory company. He said at first the project was a little out of his liking.
"My interests are in custom cars and motorcycles," Ball said.
Although their design didn't get chosen for the final round of the competition, the two received free tickets to the awards show, which takes place Wednesday in Frankfurt, Germany. But Bonebrake and Ball are unable to attend the awards show.
Bonebrake said that although their design was cutting-edge, the concept could eventually become a reality.
"I am more than satisfied with our successes in this competition," Ball said. "I was clearly out of my element in this as the concept is intended to be idealistic, bucking reality and convention."
"I feel that it is quite possible," she said. "Maybe not for today's world, but a cool concept to work
towards."
Bonebrake and Ball worked on their project as part of Lance Rake's "Problems in Industrial Design" class last spring.
"Between the two of us, we had the skill-sets needed to complete the project," Bonebrake said.
And Bonebrake offered advice for those like her and Ball, who have talent, innovation and foresight to believe their designs could someday go from concept to creation.
"Take one day at a time," she said. "And persistence pays off. When I start a project I like to think, 'How would you add value?' And I go from there."
SPOTLIGHT
— Edited by Kyle Carter
Gene Bernofsky is an independent filmmaker who makes environmental activism films while riding his bike across the United States. This is a photo from his most recent project, "The Bikino Viking."
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Former hippies still have spirit
BY SASHA ROE
sroe@kansan.com
The Bernofskys moved to Lawrence from Brooklyn, N.Y. Gene said he instantly fell in love with the town when he walked down Massachusetts Street and a complete stranger smiled and said "good morning."
At the height of the counterculture in the 1960s, Lawrence was an ideal place to practice alternative lifestyles and ideas. Gene and JoAnn Bernofsky, former University of Kansas students, established one of the eras' fundamental hippie communes. Dron City during that time
However, Gene said he didn't enjoy his time at the University. He said he never found a professor that tried to work with him in classes, and he felt the whole college lifestyle was meaningless.
"It was huge and institutionalized," Gene said. "It was just a glorified version of high school for me."
Gene wanted to spend less time in giant lectures, and more time on his art and films. He found similar ideas in art student Clark Richert. The two began hanging out and working on projects at Richert's Massachusetts Street apartment. Gene said time spent on Massachusetts Street introduced the idea for Drop City, Richert and Bernofsky talked about a unique art form that would "drop in" on people's lives rather than sit in a gallery. The friends concocted a complete breakfast setting of real food, napkin and silverware, and had it "drop in" on the street in front of The Eldridge hotel. "It was a ridiculous idea," Gene said. "But we wanted to see people's reactions."
Gene said most people thought it was amusing and chuckled as they stepped around it.
As the Vietnam War escalated, Gene and JoAnn became disheartened with society. Gene said he and JoAnn didn't want to be trapped in the war. The Bernofskys decided to start their own civilization and headed to Colorado to meet Richert, who had finished graduate school at the University of Colorado. In 1965, the friends bought about five acres outside Trinidad, Colo., for $650. Richert and Bernofsky remembered their humorous art in Lawrence and deemed the commune Drop City.
"We were full of youthful enthusiasm and our insane idea was to be completely removed from the awful chaos that was going on," Gene said.
Timothy Miller, professor of religious studies, has written several books on 1960s "hippie" communes. Miller said the basis of Drop City was for inhabitants to live off the land and pursue their art. Part of that art was domes constructed out of car tops. Miller said the Bernofskys were ahead of the curve, and Drop City was a foundational event for the era.
JoAnn Bernosfsky said Drop City's first years were happy ones and residents worked on their own creative
enadeavors. However, the Bernofskys said after two years the intent of Drop City was lost. Gene said unwanted media attention changed the direction of the commune.
"Instead of us determining Drop City, the media began determining Drop City," Gene said. "In 1967 we left with a broken heart and believed our experiment had been a failure."
Today, Gene and JoAnn live in Missoula, Mont. Gene, an independent filmmaker, often works on nonprofit environmental activism films. His recent endeavor, "The Biking Viking," is an environmental film from his biking adventures. JoAnn enjoys taking art classes at the local university and observing the students around her.
"I was their age when we started Drop City," JoAnn said. "I see them, and I think young people aren't as brave as they were in the sixties."
"They lived out their ideals, doing what they wanted to do," Miller said. "Time and age has normalized Gene a bit, but he's never lost his spirit."
Miller said he had great admiration for the life the Bernosfols lived.
Edited by Amelia Freidline
》 PUBLIC WORKS
Making bridges safe again KU engineers work with KDOT to test aging structures
BY DYLAN SANDS
dsands@kansan.com
A group of students and faculty at the University of Kansas has thousands of pounds of pressure at its command and is using that pressure to help ensure the safety of drivers in Kansas. The team of engineers is working to prolong the lives of steel bridges and is saving taxpayers millions of dollars in the process.
The Fatigue and Fracture Research Group uses computer simulations, field work, lab tests and experimental composite materials to study steel bridges' strength and susceptibility toward breakage. One machine in the group's lab is capable of applying thousands of pounds of pressure to steel bridge parts to simulate the repeated passage of large trucks.
The American Society of Civil Engineers reports that more than 75,422 bridges throughout the U.S. are structurally deficient. It estimates that more than $180 billion will need to be spent during the next 20 years to fix the bridges.
"Structurally deficient" does not mean the bridge is to go fall
down tomorrow," said Caroline Bennett, assistant professor of engineering and member of the bridge team. "It only means that Congress needs to put more money into bridge research."
The group works with the Kansas Department of Transportation to extend the life of older bridges instead of spending the time and money to construct entirely new ones. The latest example is the Tuttle Creek Bridge on K-16 near Manhattan. KDOT asked the group to look at the 5,350-foot steel bridge and its fatigue cracks. Initial estimates found that the state would have to pay $50 million to replace the bridge, but the research team proposed repairs that were made for $15 million. The bridge has not developed new cracks since, and it is estimated to have 100 more years of life.
"The majority of our infrastructure is getting old, and many bridges were only built to last a certain amount of time," Kaan said.
Ben Kaan, Wheatridge, Colo. graduate student and member of the group, said many bridges were designed correctly at the time they were built, but now more is known about bridge fatigue, and the bridges need repairs.
"Some composites can show fatigue with indicators that pop out and emit a red dye when the bridge is at risk," said Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, associate professor of aerospace engineering. "There is a flow of technology that has a place in civil engineering."
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Much attention has been thrust upon the state of U.S. bridges since the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis that resulted in 13 deaths.
"Whenever there is such a tragedy, people understand the consequences of not paying attention to these issues," said Adolfo Matamoros, associate professor of engineering. "This is a very significant problem and this is never going away."
The group also is developing ways to let the bridges signal their own fatigue before it is too late. They are working with aerospace engineers to develop indicators that could be placed within steel bridges.
— Edited by Amelia Freidline
Benjamin Kaan, Wheatridge, Colo., graduate student, tests a steel specimen on the hydraulic test frame in Learned Hall. The steel specimens are being tested in a study to retrofit existing bridges to improve fatigue performance." We're trying to figure out ways to keep cracks from forming," Kaan said.
GAMEDAY
...only at THE HAWK
Friday
$3.50 double Bacardi drinks
$2.50 Domestic Bottles
$2.75 Corona, Pacifico, Red Stripe & Chill
SUNDAY
$1.75 Domestic Bottles
$1.50 Applejack & SoCo Limes Shot
Monday
$1 Natural Light & Keystone Light
Kansas vs
Saturday September 8th
SE Louisiana
LAWRENCE
Open @ Noon Saturday!
WWW.JAYHAWKCAFE.COM
1340 Ohio • 843-9273