Malama Kauai Community Design Studio

This studio focused a student team in the Sustainable Emergency Architecture Masters Program (UIC Barcelona) on designing a multi-use community agriculture sight for Malama Kauai, a Kauai-based non-profit. Malama Kauai works closely with community members in one of the most fertile, wet, and isolated places on the globe. This project was an ideal case study for issues ranging from appropriate agriculture to climate change effects, food security and culturally-appropriate housing. Students were tasked with a) designing and applying a methodology for working with communities in need of resilient design strategies; b) researching the community and the site to clarify and archive the project context; c) refining a design brief document with Malama Kauai and community members; d) producing conceptual site plan approaches to further design thinking with local stakeholders; and e) producing conceptual designs of several site development approaches in light of the design brief.