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Student architects design eco-friendly homes

Sienna Jackson/ Roundup

The sun was beginning to set Saturday night as lively guests mingled at the Canoga Youth Arts Center, eager to tour a rather unusual art gallery.

One exhibit, a sleek modernist home weighing roughly 4,000 pounds and built entirely from old shipping containers, hung suspended from the ceiling by thin wires. It seems like a presentation of modern homes that are built using shipping containers for sale, some of which have been showcased online.

However, this house was only a model, not built out of modular steel, but from plywood and cardboard.

The miniature home was only one of the exhibits showcased at TRASHionable, an eco-friendly design showcase sponsored by the architecture department at Pierce College in association with the Associated Students Organization (ASO).

All the pieces exhibited were created by Pierce architecture students, with a green theme in mind.

The students had only two weeks to organize the event and showcase projects made entirely out of recycled garbage.

“People are thinking about sustainability,” said Beth Abels, associate professor of the architecture department. “[The focus is on] solving today’s problems with what we already have.”

Out of the 10 pieces exhibited at the show, four focused on green housing.

The two-ton home mentioned earlier was designed by student Eli Brown, a project titled, ‘the Courtyard House.’ The home was designed and planned by Brown in 2009 and features four large shipping containers as the body of the house.

Using shipping containers to build eco-smart, cheap housing is a growing trend in an industry becoming more sensitive to conservation and efficiency, a trend that Brown embraces.

“[Architects] should think more about the materials they use for construction,” said Brown. “Instead of cutting down a tree, use a shipping container to build a house.”

TRASHionable is Brown’s first exhibit.

Another designer, Tiffany Raynor, presented two works for the show; a privacy screen made out of recycled plastic bottles and her own take on a shipping container house.

Her home, titled ‘Tetris,’ is inspired by the game of the same name, which also happens to be Raynor’s favorite. ‘Tetris’ utilizes four containers of varying shapes, reminiscent of the geometric game.

“This house can be taken apart in pieces, put on a truck, moved, then put back together in a totally different way,” said Raynor. “Just like the game.”

 

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