About
The BaSiC Initiative is a collaboration of faculty and students from Portland State University and University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture.
We support community partnerships beginning two decades ago in housing
solutions for Native Americans, housing and community services for
migrant farm workers, and schools and health clinics in central Mexico.
Each program draws upon the unique relationship of communities to their
environment, finding solutions that embrace appropriate technologies
while reinforcing local values to spur self-initiated development.
The BaSiC initiative offers students a variety of design/build
opportunities. The Mexico Program occurs during the winter quarter in
various squatter settlements in Morelos. The Strawbale Program in
Montana occurs during the summer quarter, building on various American
Indian Reservations. The Rural Studio also occurs during the summer
quarter, exploring needed housing options in areas such as Eastern
Washington and southern Mississippi. Every few years, the Global Studio
replaces the Mexico Program, ranging in regions of the globe from Africa
to Cuba to India.
In the past two decades, the program has
successfully designed and built over 95 projects ranging from elementary
schools, to clinics, children’s libraries, laundry facilities, houses,
literacy centers, and urban gardens, to infrastructure projects such as
wells, cisterns, waste treatment facilities, and solar fields. Each
program has in its own way made a significant contribution to its host
community not only by providing new possibilities and ways of living
more economically and ecologically, but also through the experience and
capacity gained through the design/build process by both community
members and students.
No comments:
Post a Comment