Damn Girl, That's a Fine-Ass Structure

Our assignment for this past week was to find a "thing" on Penn's campus and analyze its structure on three different length scales. After trying unsuccessfully to find an "outside-the-box" structure, I decided to do a very obvious, man-made one: a fence. Actually, that's even more "outside-the-box" since it isn't "outside-the-box." How postmodern of me. Joking. Anyway.

Here's the smallest length scale, of about one foot (all length scales are measured horizontally since they do not change vertically):A width of one foot is important because, if it were smaller and the bars closer together, the fence would be less aesthetically pleasing and heavier, which would increase transportation and installation costs. If it were larger, then the holes in the fence would be too large to accomplish it's purpose: to keep things and people and animals out of certain places.



The second length scale, of about twelve feet:


This length scale is important because, if it were larger, then the fence would run into major problems if positioned on an incline (like this fence). Because each section of fence is installed horizontally instead of parallel to the incline, a larger length scale would result in great height disparities where the sections link, reducing the effectiveness and visual appeal of the fence. If it were smaller, then installation would take longer and increase costs.

The third and final length scale, of about sixty feet:

This length scale is sixty feet because I could only fit five fence sections (or, almost) into the frame, but it could theoretically be limitless, or as long as needed.

To draw a link to the human body (this is bioengineering, and we've covered the -engineering part), the structure of a fence resembles that of the skin. The smallest length scale is comparable to a skin cell, the medium to skin tissue, and the largest to skin in its entirety. Both fences and skin keep bad things out (like robbers and bacteria) and good things in (like organs and cute lil' puppies).

I'm in DC for the weekend visiting two of my sisters (one lives here, one is visiting. I took the Chinatown bus for only $28 round trip. Ballin'. Also, I just had a sit down meal with a waiter and sushi and everything. It was a big deal. I heard there may be a Segway tour in the works tomorrow as well. I'll let you know.