Mar
16
2017
0
By Renee Ryan
MLSoC, in collaberation with Peacework, works to support the accessibility of sustainable agriculture education, employment opportunities, and affordable fresh food in communities throughout Kaua’i, an island with surprisingly high rates of homeless and underserved populations. Students from Building Construction (BC), Construction Engineering and Management (CEM), Architecture, and Industrial Design apply their skills and education to deliver construction and engineering projects that support local initiatives. This year's project is the construction of a garden facility for a local Hawaiian immersion school, "Kawaikini".
The garden is part of a larger initiative to ensure all students, including low-income students who qualify for a school food lunch program, have access to healthy, local, culturally relevant foods. The building functions as a center for the school’s garden and is a place of the storage of tools, the storage of seeds, and for the teachers to hand out tools to the students who are working in the garden. The climate here demands constant air flow. Passive cooling design was used to circulate air up through vent holes in the floor through a large screen at the highest part on the opposite facade. Daylighting is provided by white polycarbonate roofing so that the shed can still be light and inviting for students to enter when the windows are not open. The building makes a gesture to the ancient Hawaiian huts where the roof flowed into the wall with the same thresh material. In addition, it takes structural cues from the classroom buildings of the school. It was very important for the students to experience this building as another place for them to learn.
