FROM: UL Lafayette Marketing and Communications
A 5-acre tract of land near Arnaudville, Louisiana, will become a hub for education, science conferences, sustainability workshops and cultural festivals, thanks in part to the expertise of students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The Levity and Les Deux Bayous STEAM Park site will be designed by undergraduate and graduate students from the UL Lafayette School of Architecture and Design, who will also help construct buildings. Students of architecture, industrial design and interior design will take part in the multidisciplinary project.
The university's contributions are coordinated by the Construction Institute of the Faculty of Architecture and Design, facilitating experiential learning. Students complete community service projects that include coursework and research. Collaborate with customers, contractors, suppliers and engineers; and, upon completion of a particular project, scientific publications.
For the Levity and Les Deux Bayous STEAM Park, students created a working master plan for a research and entertainment campsite where music and culture intersect with science, technology, entertainment, art and mathematics.
Plans for the site include a planetarium, an amphitheater, a sculpture garden, a community garden, an artists' residence, a farmers' market, a lumber shop, a native food forest, a meditation sensorium, a campground, a cafe and a roastery.
But first comes the Aqua House, a roughly 70-by-30-foot bathhouse that will have showers and a toilet. The groundbreaking for the innovative building is expected to take place in the spring or summer.
The Aqua House will be made of modular blocks using landfilled plastic as the main material. The blocks are designed to fit together “like Lego pieces,” said Geoff Gjertson, an architecture professor who directs the Building Institute.
“These building blocks indicate that students are intentionally focused on challenging the norms for typical public bathhouses and restrooms,” he said.
The interior will feature porcelain tile floors and porcelain tile walls approximately up to the height of an average person. Beyond that height, the porcelain is topped with plastic blocks, “materials that are not only durable but also easy to maintain,” Gjertson explained.
“And the structure is designed to be less dark and cramped than many public bathhouses and restrooms, more open and airy with more natural light,” he added.
The Building Institute is working with two nonprofit organizations to complete the steam park. Levity, a think tank and multidisciplinary space, and Les Deaux Bayous STEAM Park, which focuses on science, technology, entertainment, arts and mathematics, cultural preservation and environmental protection. The development of the Levity and Les Deux Bayous STEAM Park is part of ongoing efforts to establish Arnaudville as a cultural center.
The Building Institute, founded in 2003, has already contributed to these efforts. The House of Cards is one of the 18 multi-semester projects that the institute has implemented with the help of more than 600 students. The 2,500-square-foot artist retreat in Arnaudville is located on land on nearby Bayou Bourbeau.
“The knowledge, experience and training our students gain from thousands of hours of work on these projects are critical to their education and development and are invaluable training for their careers.” The byproduct is facilities that benefit our community Gjertson said.