“Project Rebuild Paradise” is underway as interior architecture students are finalizing their floor plans for Paradise residents. The group of students met with engineers and builders for the first time on Friday and showed residents their updated plans.
The group’s advisor, Rouben Mohiuddin, showed each floor plan option to builders who were then free to ask any questions they had. A collective sigh of relief filled the room as builders gave their approval of the floor plans the students had been working on.
He also explained the way these students first got involved with the project.
“We created a class called ‘Rebuild Paradise Internship’ where the students come in and, basically, I gave them the initial concepts and from those concepts they started developing the designs,” Mohiuddin said. “The internship is really teaching them to not necessarily design, but also understand the process of how to take an idea through a system of drawings, and designing and modeling.”
Later, Paradise residents were able to come and view the floor plans after giving some notes from the last meeting with students.
The interior architecture students were able to show Paradise families their own floor plans that they been collaborating and working on.
Student Tarik Daroich, explained where the group is in terms of the rebuilding and designing process.
“Right now we’re done with designing the floor plans, the elevations, the sketch-up designs,” he said. “We’re meeting with engineers to decide what is the best direction to head toward and we’re meeting with different clients almost every week.”
“It’s a satisfying feeling to help the community after what happened last year,” Daroich said. “It’s a blessing to be in this project to be honest. I think this is what architects are supposed to do, we have a goal and it’s to help people find the most comfortable living situations.”
The next steps for the project include finalizing some details and getting more feedback from residents to ensure that each family gets a new place they can call home.
Danielle Kessler can be reached at [email protected] or @reserv0irpups on Twitter.
