Nick Mackechnie, a senior at Cal Poly majoring in civil engineering and minoring in mathematics, recounts his project management role on his Timber-Strong Design Build team, which won at the 2024 Pacific Southwest Symposium. This event challenges engineering students to design and construct a two-story wood-framed building, providing practical experience in structural engineering and project management. Nick discusses navigating the complexities of design, team dynamics, and unique collaboration while sharing valuable lessons and insights.
My name is Nick Mackechnie. I’m going into my Senior year at Cal Poly–San Luis Obispo majoring in civil engineering and minoring in mathematics. I decided I wanted to study civil engineering during my junior year of high school, when I took a civil engineering and architecture class. While this class got cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, it left a lasting impact on my choice of college and major. At Cal Poly, the first club I joined was our ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) student chapter. I became heavily involved in the club my sophomore year by joining two of our committees and becoming a part of our Timber-Strong Design Build™ (TSDBSM) Competition team. I was drawn to the TSDB team because it offered the opportunity to learn structural design and analysis while putting Cal Poly’s Learn By Doing mentality in action with physical construction. I was selected by our captains, RJ Haugen and Kady Tanaka, to be a builder and played a significant supporting role in our team’s success in winning first place at the Pacific Southwest Symposium (PSWS) in 2023.
As our team set our sights on 2024, I was selected to be our team’s project manager. As project manager, I oversaw project scheduling, recruitment/outreach, Cal Poly relations, ASCE relations, budgeting, material procurement, construction site safety, team meetings, gravity loading calculations and day-to-day operations. Our team was built around our six returning members, five of whom were returning builders.
Our team was structured with two leads that worked collaboratively on the design and modeling of our structure. Our design lead, Ben Simpson, oversaw the conceptual design and lateral loading calculations. Our BIM lead, Aaron Sharp, led the creation of our Revit model and our plan sheets. John Yang played an integral role in the completion of our cantilever calculations and prefabrication. Vannessa Pham was a key contributor to our technical report, presentation, and shipping logistics. Mia Wooton led the aesthetic design and sustainable recycling of our structure, while also assisting with our technical report, fundraising, and PSWS coordination. We were all very prepared going into this year not only to defend our title, but also to improve upon our score from the previous year. With PSWS 2024 being held at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, we knew we had an amazing opportunity to showcase our abilities and have the experience of a lifetime.
The initial planning of the project began once the rules came out, the biggest change from 2023 being the requirement of a cantilevered wall. Our first plan of action was to ensure we had the proper load path considerations when working with a second-floor wall that extended unsupported beyond the floor system. Our team also wanted to improve upon our shed roof design from 2023, choosing a gable roof for a greater design and construction challenge. The design took on some new creative opportunities as well, as we added California corner framing to our walls and incorporated a treehouse theme. Our treehouse theme combined sustainability and youthful creativity by displaying the life cycle of wood and its recyclability, and enhanced our team’s lighthearted enjoyment of the competition and working together. The greatest challenge our team faced during the design process was our lack of familiarity with the structural analysis calculations. Many of us needed to teach ourselves how to do the calculations, which caused a lot of delays in relaying information to the rest of the team for the technical report, Revit model, cost estimate, and plan sheet.
While the design phase had its hiccups, our construction process was incredibly efficient, because of the commitment we received from a large influx of new members. Our recruiting process in 2024 drastically changed, since I presented about our team in many of our underclass classes. This caused the team to double in size from 11 members in 2023 to 22 in 2024, including 10 new freshman and 4 new sophomores. Additionally, our construction process needed to be efficient because our team took on a new project in addition to the competition.
Cal Poly’s Concrete Canoe project manager Sarah Sakakihara asked our team to design and build a custom box for their award-winning canoe to be shipped in. While this engineering challenge initially seemed simple, I soon realized that there were no examples of wooden shipping crates designed at 26′ x 4′ x 3′ dimensions. But I acted as a Cal Poly student would do and learned by doing. After extensive research on construction methods and meetings with our university’s industrial packaging and technologies, construction management, and civil engineering professors, I came to a design that would allow the canoe to make the trip to Oahu. The canoe was first laid in its EPS foam molds, then surrounded with compressible foam and held together within the wooden box. Our box separated each face into separate panels, with the base being palletized so it could be easily lifted by forklifts, and the top having an opening for the canoe’s protruding aesthetics.
Throughout this process I learned a lot about leadership, problem-solving and team-building. I knew the team was well equipped to be very successful, and all I truly needed to do was make sure we stayed on course and produced the highest quality product we could. While that is easier said than done, surrounding yourself with people that complement your skills and knowing the areas you as an individual need to improve on are integral to success. This project not only allowed me to gain technical knowledge that is helpful for my coursework, but also taught me how to interact within an organizational structure. I learned quickly how to work with team members underneath me while also reporting to university faculty, staff, and students within our ASCE student chapter on budget and scheduling.
Before leaving San Luis Obispo, our team completed our first walk-through practice build. This first walk-through was done at 50% speed and allowed us to have predrilled holes as well as create the best assembly plan of action. Once we arrived at the University of Hawai’i, we completed our second practice build at 75% speed further refined our plan of action. The night before the final build, our team continued a yearly tradition of conducting our preconstruction meeting at the hotel hot tub where we detailed every aspect of the construction process. On build day, we were extremely prepared, as we safely and securely assembled our structure efficiently and per our design. As we awaited the results, our team had our heads held high knowing we’d put our best possible work forward.
At the awards banquet, our team ended up not only coming in first place, but drastically improving on our score from 2023. On top of our first place finish, Cal Poly won first overall across the other 10 technical and 10 nontechnical competitions at PSWS. I was and am so proud of my team for going out and completing every goal we set out to accomplish.
Coming off the extreme high of winning the competition, I was able to spend time and reflect on all that the team and I were able to accomplish. I throughout this past school year was working on an additional project of bringing the ASCE Civil Engineering Student Championships to Cal Poly campus. Following us being awarded the host in April, I knew it was best for me to transition the team over to a new group of inspired students for the next competition. But with every closed door, a new one opens, and I am now serving as the chair representative of Cal Poly’s Civil Engineering Student Championships Host Committee. As a result of my personal passion, I’ve worked with ASCE and Simpson Strong-Tie to bring the Timber-Strong Design Build Competition to the society level for an exhibition competition.
I’m excited to see what the future holds and grateful for all that Simpson Strong-Tie, ASCE, and Cal Poly have provided me throughout my time on our Timber-Strong Design Build team. This has been the best experience of my life so far, and I can’t wait to bring my passion for structural engineering to the professional industry in a few years.
Please reach out for more information or an opportunity to connect!
Nick Mackechnie EIT,
