This competition started as a fun idea and took off in a way no one expected. It is now composed of four aspects:

1. Educational lesson(s) on an aspect of architectural history or the engineering industry. Past examples include
   – The Seven Wonders of the World
   – History of Bridges and Bridge Design
   – Temples
   – Residential Architecture
2. Individual or team build of a gingerbread structure based on a specific theme
3. Presentation of the gingerbread structure
4. Shake Table test of gingerbread structure in which it MUST fail

The competition is a fun time and a great way to connect with our coworkers, but also provides individual development. The architectural history education component gives us a better understanding of the architectural and engineering industry. The presentation allows us to practice our public speaking in a fun, low-pressure environment. Hidden talents shine in reenactments, raps, short films, and even a full band performance.

The excitement of the gingerbread competition even brought out someone’s handyman creativity – and one of our engineers made us a shake table. With plywood sheets on tracks and an attached sawzall, the makeshift shake table mimics lateral shaking in an earthquake. The gingerbread structures are clamped to the plywood and shaken until the satisfying collapse.

This competition was so popular, we continued it during the COVID Pandemic. Because we couldn’t come together to build and destroy it on the shake table in the office, we found a way to do it at home. We built ginger-bridges and loaded them with canned food to see how much weight they could support.

This year we will be back to structures and the shake table. This year’s theme is “US Monuments.” My brain is already spinning with ideas for a build. This competition brings out engineering creativity in me that I didn’t know I had and I don’t usually get to use on actual buildings. Whatever challenges await us this year, I’m sure they will be fun, entertaining, enriching…and tasty!

This year’s competition will be held on December 14 in our DTLA office. We’ll be sharing the festivities on Instagram and TikTok. Follow along at @kpff_la

The post Sugar & Spice: Everything Nice about KPFF LA Structural’s December Tradition appeared first on KPFF Greater Los Angeles Structural.

While physics favored Blue Team’s entry, our panel of judges, invited from amongst our friends in the design community, instead favored Gold Teams’ butterfly garden concept. I’ll admit, it was beautifully executed and detailed. They had edible butterflies! But beauty fades, and for this one very quickly. It survived a mere six seconds on the shake table, suffering a catastrophic cookie failure at both columns. This was not much of a surprise: it was top heavy and the columns were shaped like a reduced-beam section (without steel’s ductility).

But what makes this an event everyone looks forward to is the creativity, teamwork, and playfulness demonstrated in many ways across all of the teams. For example, Red Team won for best presentation by performing an ode to their tower of gingerbread and licorice set to the tune of “Under the Sea.” Orange and CAD Teams both used edible silver paint and moldable crisp-rice cereal treats to form their structures. Green Team attempted a double cantilever in replicating the CCTV building, and Admin team could have won for wackiest entry for their candy version of the Winchester Mansion.

Each year, my appreciation for who we are and what we do grows. In addition to fun holiday events like these, my colleagues daily demonstrate their willingness to “play” with and test ideas, to answer the challenges of life and work with creativity and passion. And they do so as a team held together with a common drive and just a spoonful of sugar.

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