PBL 2: Pompeii

The second PBL was much more interesting than the first. This problem was much less straightforward, and therefore much more challenging than the first. Rather than having an explicit objective, the problem included a fictional scenario and three questions that we were to answer in a 20 min. presentation. The story in the scenario is what made this problem more interesting.

My group's story was as follows: Centuries of waste and mal-treatment of the environment by humans has caused a dark cloud to cover the entire earth. People around the globe are now in panic. A Greco-Roman cult then proclaims that the statue of Apollo in Pompeii has come to life. It is then reported that Apollo's oracles preach daily from the foot of Mt. Vesuvius, and that he seeks to rebuild Pompeii. Even stranger, many renowned architects around the world have the exact same dream that they were all meeting with Vitruvius around a white round table. The oldest copy of Vitruvius' book, De Architectura, is then reported stolen from a museum. And finally, many religious leaders begin to meet in order to discuss "the end of world religion."

The Staute of Apollo in Pompeii (Vesuvius in background)

My group, including myself, was puzzled by this prompt. The assignment was completely different from anything we had ever seen before. We spent the entire first class period wondering what we were supposed to do. We had absolutely no idea how to answer any any of the questions that were proposed after the story. We hoped that our research would help this.

Eventually we decided that at least part of our presentation would be a news broadcast. We would script this part, and create of video to be played during the presentation. This broadcast would give the audience the background information for the problem (basically, what was in the prompt).

After about two or three weeks we had our research done on Apollo, Pompeii, Vitruvius, and climate change. We had also created a script for the news broadcast, however, we were still unsure how to answer the questions. For the presentation, we decided that some cult members, or Apollo himself, should burst into the room, interupting the presentation that was already going on, to answer the three proposed questions. These questions were as follows:

1. What will Apollo change to bring back the light?

2. How will the past and present be reconciled in Pompeii?

3. How will the reconstruction of Pompeii influence the rest of the world?

However, we still had no answers to these questions. It wasn't untill after we had filmed our news video, and there was only about a week left untill the presentation date, that we finally had all of our ideas for our presentation, and all the answers to the questions.

Our presentation start as a conference no climate change (in reaction to the dark cloud). This would be interrupted when a special news broadcast is aired live (which would be our news video giving the background of the problem). Once the broadcast is over, Apollo woullld burst in (to triumphant music) and reporters would begin asking him questions. These questions would eventually answer all of the proposed questions.

Apollo, initially portrayed as an all-powerful god (who caused the eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii and the current dark cloud), would then switch and become a land developer/real estate agent looking to get people to move into the newly reconstructed Pompeii.

The questions would be answered as follows:

1. Apollo would have humans agree to stop wasteful energy consumption, and utilize modern technology to provide waste-free renewable energy.

2. Pompeii will appear as an ancient city inn its architecture, but hidden under the surface would be geothermal energy pipes providing power and heat to the city. The heat of the volcano that once destroyed this city wold be used to power it. Some of the ancient structures no longer needed today will be converted into research facilities dedicated to finding new energy sources. Vitruvius' knowledge of ancient Roman architecture combined with the best architectural and engineering minds of today would be used to fit this ancient city with modern technology.

3. Pompeii's use of renewable energy would serve as a model for all cities in the world. A fund would also be set up in Pompeii that would give other cities around the world the monetary power to convert their own cities to greener energy sources.

All of this information would then be revealed by Apollo and his followers in the remainder of the presentaion prompted by questions from the press.