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Boston, MA – March 21, 2007 – Nearly 30 Wentworth Institute of Technology students, faculty, and staff members as well as one volunteer contractor returned from the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans after completing a third Alternative College Break Project focused on designing and building a demonstration landscape and completing renovations to an existing building for a new environmental center. Over the course of the week-long visit, students completed a demonstration garden where local residents can learn safe strategies to fix the contamination in their own yards, finalized the interior workspace of the building, re-sided an exterior wall, and constructed a new outdoor classroom deck for hosting community events and educational workshops adjacent to the testing garden.
(See photos.)
Students have been applying their skills and insights to help design and build a demonstration remediation garden. Led by faculty from the Institute’s Department of Architecture, many of the students participating in the project studied the site in a sophomore architecture studio integrated into last spring’s curriculum.
“The students’ hard work during the past three visits is now easily recognizable in terms of completed projects,” said Sean Bender, Director of the Center for Community and Learning Partnerships at Wentworth. “It’s clear that service learning projects can have a great impact on communities, especially when the students are so determined to make a difference in the lives of others and apply their classroom knowledge in new, exciting ways. Everyone wins in these relationships.”
The initiative is aimed at identifying various methods in soil remediation, especially in neighborhoods like Tremé where residents do not have the economic means to hire professionals. The demonstration landscape will educate local residents on the risks of soil contamination and existing strategies for risk mitigation and soil remediation. Walking paths throughout the site will lead visitors to learning stations, where signage will guide them through the steps, costs, and time requirements for each soil treatment option. In addition, an exhibition garden will encourage learning and exploration, while also creating an attractive neighborhood gathering space.
“The community has already embraced the design and construction work done by Wentworth’s students,” said Lora Kim, assistant professor of architecture and one of the faculty leaders on the Alternative Spring Break project. “Neighbors of all ages have stopped by the site to praise the completed work and thank the students for their efforts.”
A diverse team of architects, engineers, scientists, and community organizations are involved with the project to design and build the demonstration landscape on Ujamaa Square in the heart of Tremé. The project is being completed in conjunction with the People’s Environmental Center, a non- profit resource recently formed by scientists, lawyers, engineers, architects, and activists; Ujamaa Community Development Corporation, a local affordable housing developer and community service organization; and Tulane University’s CityBuild consortium. The gardens will form part of the broader People’s Environmental Center located on the same site. The center will allow residents to test their soil, and then learn what they can do to fix the situation themselves using methods demonstrated in the remediation garden.
The service learning project began in early 2006, with Wentworth students gutting a house, conducting a community design charrette, documenting the urban site, and preparing master plans for re-development of the square itself. The second and third trips focused on design and construction, and Wentworth students and faculty have donated thousands of hours of volunteer efforts to allow the People’s Environmental Center to begin offering services. Fundraising efforts for the January and March trips totaled approximately $50,000, and more than half of this money has been used for materials and supplies in the construction efforts.
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Founded in 1904, Wentworth Institute of Technology is an independent, co-educational nationally ranked institution offering career-focused education through 15 bachelor degree programs in areas such as architecture, computer science, construction management, design, engineering, engineering technology, and management of technology. For over a century, Wentworth Institute of Technology has been a leader in technical education known for its academic excellence, community service, and support for the economic growth of the region. For more information, please visit www.wit.edu. |
