BY ELAINE IANDOLI
In Search of Solutions From resurrecting a Puerto Rican beachfront tourist attraction to creating compassionate, safe housing for Ebola victims, NYIT students are applying classroom theory to practical, solutionsoriented designs. Architecture, medicine, interior design, health sciences, and engineering students discuss how they confront challenges with unconventional approaches. Courtesy of Farzana Gandhi
Just Beachy AN INVITING STRETCH of sand and surf in Culebra, Puerto Rico, is the backdrop for a small project offering a big-picture view of architecture, design, and society. The problem: How can a neglected beachfront thrive as a tourist attraction if the current amenities are run down? In a low-budget scenario, what’s the best way to serve beach visitors and keep them coming back? NYIT School of Architecture and Design students partnered with students at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) to devise the solution, “Contorno,” a low-cost, modular, wooden structure designed as an attractive space for beachgoers to sit, socialize, change clothing, and learn about area events. “It’s building that considers the situation,” says Jorge Villao, one of the 13 students who took Assistant Professor Farzana Gandhi’s new Social Impact Design course last fall. “This is a structure that provides a changing room and shade. But it’s not your normal little hut on a beach.” Contorno was designed and developed in the fall 2014 semester as NYIT students joined their UPR counterparts in videoconferences to research local conditions, work through construction details, and solicit community feedback.
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