KEEPING AUSTIN BEAUTIFUL PRESERVING THE COMMUNITIES THAT WE CREATE
OLIVIA NOELLE PELHAM
COMMUNITY SERVICE INITIATIVE For the summer of 2023 my community service initiative consisted of learning more about sustainability and its design practices through the lenses of preservation and restoration, and how it effects our communities and its architecture.
RESTORATION
PRESERVATION
SUSTAINABILITY
ORGANIZATIONS This summer I partnered with various Austin-based organizations in order to help restore and preserve the communities that we inhabit and have worked hard to create. Each organization offered a different perspective to my initiative with the same goal of enhancing the Austin community.
KEEP AUSTIN BEAUTIFUL
PEASE PARK CONSERVANCY
AUSTIN HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
RESTORATION Restoration refers to the efforts made in order to revitalize and improve the well being of a community or thing that has experienced changes, disruptions or a decline. This can involve assessing the challenges that have been faced and what the community‘s needs are in order to enhance it to its original state. These efforts can include the rehabilitation of natural areas that have been impacted due to weather or human interaction in order to strengthen its overall environmental health. Through my 2023 community service initiative I was able to help restore Austin’s loved spaces through community engagement and participation working with the Pease Park Conservancy. This organization works to restore, enhance, and maintain the public green space within Pease Park for the sustainable use and enjoyment of its community. Through this opportunity I helped to maintain the park’s cleanliness by picking up litter, planting new thriving species, and returning the parks native plants to its natural state by removing invasive vegetation that were taking over the area. By way of continuous observation and care to Pease Park’s natural spaces I was able to see weekly changes in the restoration initiative of the conservancy and slowly help bring liveliness to one of Austin’s loved parks.
PRESERVATION Preservation refers to the act or process of maintaining and protecting our communities and gathering spaces. This can be done by sustaining the characteristics, attributes, and core values of a particular space or geographical area. Preservation of a community involves efforts to ensure the continued wellbeing of the community as a whole and its surroundings. Through my 2023 community service initiative I was able to help preserve many different parks, bodies of water, and other recreational areas within Austin working with Keep Austin Beautiful. This organization is committed to preserve Austin’s beautiful nature by reducing the amounts of trash entering the creeks, improve water quality, and restore habitats along waterways and its surrounding areas. Through this opportunity I collected litter on the land surrounding creeks and lakes as well as trash that made its way into the water by way of kayak. This initiative allowed for me to see the affects of waste not only by human consumption but also by the materials that make up and construct our spaces and where some of the materials end up. It helped me to understand the importance of sustainable design practices and how those actions can influence our environment and the communities around us.
SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability in relation to design and within our communities refers to the practice of developing spaces and products, buildings, and systems with consideration to prioritize its environmental, social, and economic well-being. Communities that are sustainable balance their environmental responsibility as a holistic approach to these factors and impacts with collaboration with the people that inhabit it. Through my 2023 community service initiative working the Austin Habitat for Humanity, I had the extraordinary opportunity to help build affordable housing for underprivileged families in Austin while thinking about sustainable design practices. During the new construction initiatives I cut and nailed wood for fencing, dug and laid landscaping, as well as other interior tasks such as painting. Working on a functioning construction site made me think about the building materials that were being used and where waste would end up once the site was completed. Being that it is my goal to design and build homes in the future, this opportunity allowed for me to gain real world experience and work with my hands for the first time. In addition to new construction I was also able to assist with the ReStore location and help receive donations, clean/maintain the store, organize product for those in need of their services. Working with the Austin Habitat for Humanity allowed for a full circle moment that I will use to propel my design career.
REFLECTION The importance of preserving our communities: The preservation of the communities that we inhabit is greatly important, playing a crucial role in the development of our social, cultural, and environmental well-being. Quality of life is a huge factor in this conversation and can be directly impacted by the lack of sustainable practices and understanding of how to maintain our communities. My summer 2023 community service initiative allowed me to see another side of architecture and design at a much larger scale and how our ideas, designs, and human interaction can affect the world around us. Getting involved in local initiatives can ultimately help to build stronger communities that are better equipped to handle and recover from various challenges, including natural disasters, economic downturns, and public health crises. These community gathering opportunities to restore and preserve serve as community networks and support systems that can be invaluable to our spaces, especially during times of crisis. Although engaging in acts of community service is great, this initiative empowered me to think about how areas of waste could be avoided from the start of building design. Using sustainable building practices within the early stages of design can have an impact on itself and the community in the future. This can be done with in depth research on things like material selection, local sourcing, biophilic design, and even universal design considerations. I think its our social responsibility as designers to consider the social impact of our decisions and embrace a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation to seek different ways to make our designs more sustainable.
COMMUNITY SERVICE LOG
COMMUNITY SERVICE LOG
THANK YOU OLIVIA NOELLE PELHAM