The tour of Abbot Lab was actually very eye-opening, as
essentially everything in this class has been thus far. Unfortunately,
Professor Hinders was unable to be in class and he will be absent for a week or
two. (Teaching in Italy must be pretty rough!!) Nonetheless, I managed to take
a lot away from the tour itself even without our esteemed professor. When we
arrived we met in a small room and we were briefed about not taking pictures,
so I will try not to give away any critical information that might compromise
their business. (Note: Abbott Power Plant is really far away – couldn’t they
have built it a LITTLE closer?)
One
thing I realized was that I know nothing about engineering or how power plants
work. Most of the things we talked about as far as the function of the plant
itself or technical things about engineering and running such a plant took a
lot for me to try and understand. I guess that’s what I get for being a Finance
major. Anyways, the architecture was very interesting. It was of course much
different than any other building we had visited up to that point. Sort of like
Temple Hoyne, much of the structure is exposed. It does not feel cozy or even
safe. We looked at lots of tubing that transported the steam (it’s a steam and
coal plant) and other machinery that aided in this process. We also got to see
open coal burners, which was actually really cool. We inspected the boilers and
even a turbine that are in the plant as well. What I took away from this tour
overall was that the power plant was probably a good example of functionality
over personal touch or feel. To be honest (and I could be wrong, this is just
what I took away) there was not much to the building except what needed to be
there. No symbolism, and not really much personal feel. But it was definitely a
nice change of pace from all the classroom buildings we have seen.
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