Border studio project enhances quality of life in Texas colonia

Fourth-year environmental design students at Texas A&M worked alongside residents of Las Lomas, a South Texas colonia, on several projects aimed at improving the border community during a spring 2011 studio.

Las Lomas is one of South Texas’ many colonias — impoverished, unincorporated and relatively undeveloped villages near the U.S. side of the U.S. Mexico border, many with homes that lack basic necessities such as potable water, electricity and sewer systems.

The colonias’ leaders, looking to establish youth afterschool activities and ways to fund staffing for a community center, asked the students, led by Peter Lang, associate professor of architecture, to research economical methods of candle wax manufacturing.

“By presenting to the center what we learned while making wax objects, we were able to put them one step closer to forming their own small business,” said Miranda Rogers.

[Images] (http://arch406spring11.wordpress.com/wax-shop/) on the wax workshop are available on the border studio blog.

Students and community members also built a [student-designed gazebo] (http://arch406spring11.wordpress.com/gazebo-workshop/) at Las Lomas’ community center.

“It was wonderful to see the community join the students and participate in the action,” said Danielle Davis. “The work was hot and challenging, but the gratitude of the community center leaders was overwhelmingly positive.”

Cecilia Giusti, associate professor of urban planning, and John Nichols, associate professor of construction science, also helped with the studio.

The students’ trip continued a partnership between Las Lomas and Lang’s students that began during a [spring 2010 visit] (http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/fall2010/stories/Lang_borderstudio.html) to the colonia.

Photos, videos and posts about the students’ Las Lomas efforts, which also included painting murals and creating a sustainable community garden infrastructure, are available on the border studio’s [blog] (http://arch406spring11.wordpress.com/) .

See related story: “ [Texas A&M architecture students help solve a problem for their South Texas neighbors] (http://tamunews.tamu.edu/2011/06/03/texas-am-architecture-students-help-solve-a-problem-for-their-south-texas-neighbors/) .”