Make modules that people could sleep in. This is the theme of this year’s architecture showcase that students from El Camino College participate in every year.
Because of this, El Camino students built a pod-like module named “Radiant Bloom” which they slept in from April 26 to 28 to test.
“We spent two days in the Poly Canyon area in San Luis Obispo sleeping in our modules to later be judged,” Michael Lamberd, 31-year-old El Camino architecture student, said.
A program by the National Organization of Minority Architects, the event gathered architecture students from different community colleges to El Camino on Wednesday, May 15.
NOMA helps underrepresented students pursue learning and even careers in architecture.
The event was originally scheduled to meet at the University of Southern California, but due to the ongoing protests and unrest at USC campus, the event was hosted by El Camino for the second year in a row.
Schools that participated in the event included Santa Monica College, USC, College of the Canyons, California Polytechnic State University-Pomona and Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Santa Monica students made a foldable bed named the “Roly Poly.” Another module created was a mock beehive made of buckets named “Pail Hive.”
“We designed a portal bed that can be folded into a rocking chair and even a round ball to roll for transport,” Grace Rivas, 21-year-old Santa Monica student, said.
Along with Rivas were her classmates Rico Santana, 32, and Gabriel Aguirre, 19, who also worked on the “Roly Poly,” which won the most innovative prize.
“I think all the other projects are awesome and inspiring and it is an honor to compete against El Camino College,” Santana said.
Southern California Institute of Architecture student Youssef Hachchane, 29, attended the event and worked on futuristic building designs.
“This is my third time attending a NOMA showcase and I always find them interesting,” Hachchane said.
The organizers of the showcase were El Camino architecture professors Marc Yeber, Reuben Jacobs and Dan Richardson.
“I think the event is running efficiently since we had experience organizing the event last year and know what to expect,” Yeber said.
Besides the modules designed to sleep in, students also demonstrated their designs for other projects, including religious temple designs and new monuments for El Camino.
El Camino student Michael Brentlinger, 23, made designs for a pavilion made of sails from boats.
“In my class, the point of the project was to make the most sustainable structure and I wanted to design a structure that could be used for future art presentations,” Brentlinger said.
Craig Atkinson, president of the Southern California Chapter of NOMA, came to the event to view the projects and give feedback. Atkinson was impressed with the students’ efforts.
“The work being done today is far above the work that was being done when I was learning architecture,” Atkinson said.
