The green haus, recycling bin and the ice cube

 

K-STATE ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS ASSEMBLE DEMO 'CUBES' FOR REBUILDING OF GREENSBURG

by Andy Badeker

 

Students at Kansas State University's College of Architecture, Planning and Design turned the experience gained in building their Project Solar House to a new undertaking: Greensburg Cubed, which provided that tornado-ravaged town with 10-foot portable demonstrations of ways to meet basic needs in a sustainable fashion.

The cubes shipped to Greensburg in time for the first anniversary of the disaster on May 4. The prefabricated modules include "the ice cube," designed to provide clean water; "the green haus" for promoting off-the-shelf solutions to reconstruction problems; and "the recycling bin," which will help high school students get a recycling program off the ground, according to Larry Bowne, assistant professor of architecture.

All the cubes took advantage of techniques and philosophies that the solar house demonstrated at last year's Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. Students will use such technologies as vegetated "green roofs," structurally integrated panels that speed construction, and solar power and wind-generated electricity, where necessary.

"These 'pods' are being designed as teaching tools and building blocks for residents and business owners as they strive to rebuild their community green," said architecture student Aaron Vanderpool, from Blue Springs, Mo.

Vanderpool and other members of Bowne's fifth-year design-build studio came up with these and other notions as a way to participate in the rebuilding of Greensburg.

"It's difficult for students, who have intense passion but also intensive schedules, to make an appropriate response to disaster," Bowne said. "Disasters don't have calendars. One of the things we're trying to do with Greensburg Cubed is to see how and whether students can contribute, given their many commitments."

As well as demonstrating building systems and technologies, the cubes ideally will continue to serve a purpose afterward, Bowne said.

 

For more information visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXYLIvZyFMk