Project Locus projects

_Projects

The specific purposes for which Project Locus is organized are to provide design oriented education for volunteers and independent college level students through the charitable design and construction of public buildings for communities who would not otherwise be able to afford such efforts. We will focus on areas that are economically depressed, war torn, disaster stricken, or suffer from a sustained environmental blight.

Project locus is designed to provide an alternative to a typical design education, in which the training is almost exclusively conceptual. A common criticism of schools of architecture is that recent graduates are not provided the training, and do not have the practical knowledge and experience of design and construction in the real and physical sense. Project Locus will provide volunteers with the opportunity to move beyond ‘paper design’ and into the real world of design and construction for real people in need. Volunteers will be responsible for planning and executing each stage of the project. Permanent advisors will serve mainly as instructors and project managers. A typical project will require volunteers to select a community, such as south central Los Angeles or the ‘Skid Row” district of the Alameda corridor downtown, and analyze specific needs and develop a program which attempts to fill certain economic and social gaps, while at the same time is sensitive with respect to local vernacular and context. Examples of projects may include outreach centers, soup kitchens, and community gardens. During the first few weeks, volunteers and advisors will conduct a thorough site analysis, and produce design drawings for the proposed structure. Then, depending on the size of the project, they will spend the next three to nine months in construction of the project. Once the building is complete and operational, Project Locus will help to install and maintain lacking social programs such as job and literacy training, vaccination and immunization care, water and sanitation services, and so forth, with the purpose of rebuilding the community structure.

During the building process, Project Locus will direct efforts towards developing new building systems and methods of construction, and will practice sustainable and ‘green’ design, while utilizing recycled materials whenever possible to keep costs low. Through these efforts, Project Locus hopes to invent a scientific process of design and construction that will address existing and emerging social problems effectively, and can begin to rebuild communities while elevating the spirit and improving the human condition.

The ways in which Project Locus is different from a design firm are numerous. Project Locus will act as a classroom, in cooperation with major schools of architecture, relief and volunteer organizations. We will not accept monetary commissions from able clients, as traditional design firms do; rather, the clients that Project Locus chooses will be selected based on a strict criteria of economic need. The majority of the funds raised will be used to cover the actual construction costs of projects, and Project Locus will not charge clients any fees for services performed.