Ten Palomar students are participating in the nonprofit building effort as part of a pilot program to provide architecture students with experience in the field.<\/p>\n
SAN MARCOS \u2014 At a construction site in National City, ten students from the Palomar College Architecture program suited up on Friday, September 3 to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project providing six townhomes for families in need.<\/p>\n
The project is the central focus of a pilot program designed to give students real-world experience, both on construction sites and in offices where they will learn the \u201csoft skills\u201d like client relations that are essential to becoming successful architects.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal, first and foremost, is to make this program as hands-on as possible\u2014trying to use the buildings on campus as learning tools, and get out into the field as much as possible,\u201d said Professor Joe Lucido.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an opportunity for our students to better understand construction methodology while giving back, and we hope to make this collaboration an integral part of our architectural studies at Palomar,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Led by Adjunct Professor and local architect Nathan Houck, the Architectural Internship class requires students to complete 180 hours of on-site work. Lucido said the course, ARCH 295, is open even to beginning architecture students, and that he hopes to see students from aligned programs like Interior Design participate to gain on-site experience.<\/p>\n
The Habitat for Humanity project will continue throughout the fall semester, and Lucido said the program is working on partnering with a local office to provide students with a glimpse into how construction projects are prepared and run.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if it\u2019s just calling into a Zoom meeting, a lot of students have never even met an architect, let alone been in an office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When it comes to construction projects, said Lucido, \u201cThe architect is like the conductor, and their job is to conduct the piece of music that is the building. The more students can get out there and understand the pieces of the orchestra, the better ability they will have to conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"