Project Topic
This ten-week student consulting project invites you to help The Outsider explore the technical design of an innovative floating high-ropes course.
The Outsider wants to expand its range of outdoor activities at its site in Oudenaarde with a new experience on the Donkvijver: a modular high-ropes course built on a floating structure. The concept should ultimately provide a fun and challenging activity while taking into account important engineering considerations such as stability, buoyancy, structural strength and modularity.
As part of the project, you will investigate how such a floating structure could be designed from an engineering perspective. You will explore different technical solutions, assess relevant structural requirements and translate your findings into a substantiated design concept.
The goal is to provide The Outsider with a strong technical foundation for the further development of this innovative attraction.
The Company
The Outsider is a Belgian outdoor and adventure company offering a wide range of recreational, sporting and team-building activities.
At its site in Oudenaarde, The Outsider organises numerous outdoor experiences on and around the Donkvijver. The company already has experience developing its own adventure infrastructure and is continuously looking for new ways to create distinctive and engaging experiences for its visitors.
With this project, The Outsider wants to explore the engineering possibilities behind a new floating high-ropes concept.
Project Goals
Explore the technical feasibility of a floating high-ropes course
Investigate the structural and stability requirements of the concept
Analyse buoyancy and load considerations for the floating structure
Explore suitable construction principles, materials and connections
Investigate how a modular structure could allow for future expansion
Translate the engineering analysis into a substantiated technical concept
Develop technical drawings and visualisations to support the proposed design
Formulate recommendations for the further engineering and development of the concept
Present the findings through a professional report and final presentation
Why should you participate?
This project gives you the opportunity to apply engineering knowledge to a real and highly tangible design challenge. Rather than analysing an existing product or process, you will help investigate how an entirely new outdoor attraction could be brought from an initial idea towards a technically substantiated concept.
You will combine engineering analysis with creative problem-solving and consider how structural design, stability, buoyancy, materials and practical usability interact within one system.
It is particularly relevant for students interested in mechanical engineering, electromechanical engineering, civil or structural engineering, product development or engineering design.
What's in it for you?
Hands-on experience with a real engineering design challenge
Practical application of structural and mechanical engineering principles
Experience with stability, loads and buoyancy considerations
Opportunity to work with technical design and CAD
Experience translating an initial concept into an engineering solution
Exposure to the outdoor recreation and adventure industry
Collaboration within a motivated, multidisciplinary student team
Professional reporting and presentation experience for a real client
Possibility to obtain ECTS credits, subject to the applicable admission requirements
You will develop your technical, analytical and problem-solving skills while contributing to an innovative concept that could form the basis for a new adventure experience at The Outsider.