Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(KSL News) Green buildings-- those that are environmentally friendly -- are becoming more popular, even for kids as young as 11 years old.
Last week we dropped in on two schools to hear about the sixth graders' latest Earth Day project: construction of sustainable homes. Most students seemed optimistic, others slightly confused. One student, Darian, didn't know what sustainability means. Another, Danielle Calfo, said, "It means, like to try to keep our earth the best it is right now."
The confusion cleared up this week when the kids built models of homes that could become the standard in their future. They had an hour to do it. But what they lacked in time, they made up for in creativity.
Call it organized chaos. Sixth graders from Rose Park Elementary and Glendale Middle School put together models of buildings made completely out of recycled materials. The idea was to build a sustainable home for anyone in any climate.
"We're making a tree house for some biologists," one student said. Another said, "We're building a beach house.. for everyone in our group."
With the assistance of professionals from Salt Lake architecture firm GSBS Architects, the kids cut, glued and braided all the pieces they'd need.
Cassidy Moore said, "You need to think about what kinds of things could happen in your house and how you're going to produce the energy and water and everything."
Most groups used solar panels for power. For water, one group used straws connected to the bathroom to plumb the whole house. "We stuck one under the river so it could come through the house and we could get water," a student said.
But the most popular idea seemed to be the elevator.
Derian Flores explained, "So like if the lady, if she's tired and doesn't want to go up the stairs, she can just use the elevator."
The project turned out to be easier than Danielle Calfo thought it would be, "Because I thought it would be a lot harder to glue stuff together and make the elevator," she said.
Ramone Orone said, "[It was] kind of a big challenge because we only have a little bit of time left and we haven't done a lot of work."
Despite the difficulty, one lesson resonated through the bunch. Ramone said, "If you can work together, you can achieve anything."
The students will present their finished projects to their teachers and to their architect mentors next week.
