On March 1, 2019, the Environmental Design Solar Decathlon and Habitat for Humanity Metro Denver praxis studio, and the Historic Site Engagement: Reimagining Interpretive Education praxis studio showcased final work from students to its first client, the 2020 桃色视频 Decathlon team.

The showcase included digital presentations as well as an open poster session.

The Solar Decathlon is an international collegiate competition for which university teams design, build, showcase and operate a fully solar-powered home on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. 鈦�

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Senior Instructor Jade Polizzi's design-build praxis, Design in Partnership with the Lama Foundation, has been featured in the recently published Public Interest Design Education Guidebook: Curricula, Strategies, and SEED academic Case Studies. See press release below: 

New Book presents Public Interest Design Education

Public Interest Design Education Guidebook: Curricula, Strategies, and SEED Academic Case Studies presents the work and ideas of over 60 thought-leaders that together are shaping a broad curriculum of public interest design. Written in a guidebook format that includes projects from across design disciplines, this book describes the learning critical to pursuing an inclusive, informed design practice.

The second book in Routledge鈥檚 Public Interest Design Guidebook series, the editors and contributors feature a range of examples and strategies where educational and community-originated goals unite.

Featured chapter themes include Fundamental Skills, Intercultural Competencies, Engaging the Field Experience, Inclusive Iteration, and Evaluating Student Learning. The breadth of projects and teaching strategies provides valuable knowledge for students of design, educators, and practicing designers in the pursuit of serving the public through design.

Contributors include (in order of Table of Contents):
Rahul Mehrotra; Lisa M. Abendroth and Bryan Bell; Jeffrey Hou, Benjamin R. Spencer, and Daniel Winterbottom; Mariana Amatullo, Dan Gottlieb, Penny Herscovitch, and Susannah Ramshaw; R. Todd Ferry and Sergio Palleroni; Bryan Bell, Robin Abrams, and Gene Bressler; Susan Verba, Sarah Perrault, and Tracy Manuel; Anthony Guido with Jeremy Beaudry, Jamer Hunt, Sharon Lefevre, Michael McAllister, and Jonas Milder; Maggie Hansen and Emilie Taylor Welty; Lisa M. Abendroth, Kelly Monico, and Peter Miles Bergman; Lee Davis and Mike Weikert; John Folan; Megan Clark and Shalini Agrawal; Pedro Pacheco; Ursula Hartig and Nina Pawlicki; Christian Benimana; Lisa Grocott and Kate McEntee; Deland Chan; Benjamin R. Spencer; Angus Donald Campbell and Naude虂 Malan; Brian Gaudio; Benjamin Peterson; Eduardo Staszowski; Paula Horrigan; Edward M. Orlowski and Julia Jovanovic; Chris Harnish; Nadia M. Anderson; Bethany Lundell Garver; Michael Zaretsky; Julie Stevens; and, Thomas Fisher.

Case study projects include:
Design in Partnership with the Lama Foundation; Pleasant Street Pedestrian Project; A Social Approach to Design; Cooperative Education at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center; Com(m)a; The Farm Rover; On-Site: Public Art and Design; South of California Avenue; and, With Sacramento.

Order information and link:

Contact: Lisa Abendroth, lisa@seednetwork.org; Bryan Bell, bryan@designcorps.org

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Each spring, Environmental Design offers praxis studios for third-year students, giving them experience in solving real-world problems by serving groups and organizations in Boulder and surrounding communities. This semester, students could choose from five different course options ranging from design-builds to infrastructure planning. Clients and community partners this year included Denver Botanic Gardens, the City of Globeville and the Ponderosa community in Boulder.

Instructor Jeremy Ehly and his praxis course have been working with Denver Botanic Gardens to design two separate mobile ticket centers for the York St. and Chatfield Farms locations. The class presented its final presentation to Denver Botanic Gardens on April 13, which included a virtual reality walk-thru for the client. 

鈥淲e could actually go inside the ticket booth and really get a sense,鈥� said Brian Vogt, CEO of Denver Botanic Gardens. 鈥淚 love the fact that they built a model so they could show what it would feel like to somebody working inside of it.鈥� 

The design process started with over 100 different design concepts at the beginning of the semester. The goal was to not use any one design from one student, but to incorporate design concepts from the class as a whole. From there, the class narrowed it down by common features and themes to six ideas for client feedback.  

鈥淒enver Botanic Gardens has been awesome at being incredibly clear and concise in making decisions about the project,鈥� Ehly said. 鈥淎nd, what they鈥檝e told us after every meeting is that we are outshining all the professional firms that they work with on a day-to-day basis. I think that is the highest compliment we could get.鈥�

With any design and construction project comes budget constraints. For Ehly鈥檚 class, the students have been able to successfully keep their design-build within the budget Denver Botanic Gardens proposed, while also meeting and exceeding all of their expectations. 

鈥淭his time it stayed in budget,鈥� Vogt said. 鈥淭hat has not always been my experience with architectural firms, and the students鈥� designs are really impressive. The level of detail they put into this (the mobile ticket centers) is quite remarkable.鈥� 

Construction for the mobile ticket centers will take place during Maymester, in the Environmental Design Creative Labs at the Center for Innovation and Creativity building. Ehly claims, the experience students receive is comparable to a full-time job, for an intense three to four weeks. The public can expect to see the finished design on June 2. 

For Ethan Herrold, an ENVD junior specializing in architecture, the praxis studio is about the real-world experience while working with a high-profile client. Herrold states that all of his previous studio courses prepared him for this moment, and that he鈥檚 most excited for the building process.

鈥淪eeing it come to fruition, and getting to say 鈥榟ey I designed that shutter,鈥� and taking responsibility for something that鈥檚 built where millions of people can see it every year is pretty spectacular,鈥� Herrold said. 

Denver Botanic Gardens also worked with instructor Emily Greenwood鈥檚 praxis studio this spring. The design challenge for her 15 undergraduate students was to 鈥渄esign and create a portable, self-contained, self-watering, self-powering vegetable garden intended to battle hunger and create micro-agri-economies in developing countries where water and fresh vegetables are scarce.鈥�  The name of the design is called VITA. 

VITA is a modular, hexagonal system that is designed to grow vegetables and other plant varieties. It is specifically designed to adapt to different climates, as well as scenarios. Users can choose from three different sizes. The VITA design also features bee bungalows and light boxes. 

The ultimate goal for Vogt and Denver Botanic Gardens is to 鈥渟ave the world鈥� with this new design and technology. 

鈥淚f we can figure out a cool design that you could really plunk down anywhere in world, we could put some seeds in the ground, aim it towards the sun and it would self-irrigate with water from the atmosphere,鈥� Vogt said. 鈥淭hen, you could come back a few weeks later and you have fresh vegetables. It鈥檚 amazing!鈥� 

This week, Greenwood and her class will be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony for their design-build revealing at Denver Botanic Gardens. The unit will be installed near the Hive Garden Bistro. 

The event will be on Thursday, May 24 at 9 a.m. 

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A new Denver-area  in the 桃色视频  will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, June 3, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The newly-completed playscape is located at Kendall Apartments in Lakewood, an affordable housing community serving 48 families and 65-plus children. The owner of the community, Northeast Denver Housing Center (NDHC), first approached environmental design instructor Jeremy Ehly about replacing the existing meager playground structures.

Partnering with the NDHC, Ehly's students began working on the new playground as their junior year praxis project鈥攈andling everything from fundraising and community outreach to design, fabrication and construction. 

To inform the design and identify what would be most valuable to the community, the students held meetings and completed door-to-door interviews at the apartment complex, resulting in specially designed play equipment requested by the children and multi-sensory spaces that put all residents in touch with native vegetation and a serene environment at home.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new playscape, located at 1760 Kendall St., will start at 4 p.m. and feature remarks from the student design/build team, the NDHC and representatives from the city of Lakewood. Light refreshments and drinks will be provided.

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Despite the frigid weather and broken down van, nineteen ENVD students, along with Senior Instructor Jade Polizzi, enjoyed a spectacular weekend in Taos, NM on a site analysis field trip to the .

The students gained valuable insights to inform their future design projects while taking in the beautiful scenery of the Rio Grande Gorge. The trip began with a visit to the Taos  community to learn about sustainable construction and off-grid living. Afterward, the students spoke with the Lama Foundation to discuss their needs for the permanent residence which the class will design and build over the next few months.

Photography by ENVD students Dixon Stein and Greg Blanpied

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