Construction teaching tool is decorative, too

  Tuesday, February 10, 2015 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

A shiny new object on the walls at Pittsburg State University’s Kansas Technology Center is both decorative and educational.

The P1 Group, an electrical, mechanical and service contractor company with locations throughout the Midwest, recently donated a modular mechanical rack to the Pittsburg State School of Construction.

Mechanical racks are designed to contain the increasingly complex mechanical systems of a building. Modular racks are beneficial, said Associate Professor Shannon Nicklaus, because they can be fabricated in a shop and delivered to the job site in one piece.

“The rack we now have is one like you would see in a hospital,” he said. “It’s a new way of doing things, because you build it all as one piece in the shop instead of installing it one pipe or one stick at a time on site. It makes installing this system faster and much safer.”

The piece has been installed on the wall near the northwest entrance of the KTC where visitors can appreciate its industrial aesthetics and students can learn about its design.

One of the representatives from the P1 staff who delivered the rack to PSU was Brady Kyle, who graduated from Pitt State in December of last year.

“This is exciting for me, because I had interned at P1 for a couple of years before working for them after graduation,” he said. “It’s nice being able to come back to campus and be a part of this.”

Kyle was instrumental in the design of the mechanical rack.

“When P1 decided they wanted to build one of these for PSU, they asked me to work on the design,” he said. “We took that design to the fabricators, they delivered a masterpiece.”

Nicklaus said the rack donated to Pitt State is valued at approximately $6,000.