Imagine a Pacoima neighborhood where children spend afternoons in the backyard, playing ball. Imagine that neighborhood smothered by 30 landfills, surrounded by three major freeways and bisected by a railroad line. Now imagine the pollution in the air the children breathe as they play.

The graduate design students of Cal State Northridge’s Kyriakos Pontikis spent spring 2009 helping Pacoima and other communities design more sustainable and livable environments. Teaming up with the students of assistant urban studies and planning professor Zeynep Toker, they partnered with the non-profit Pacoima Beautiful organization.

“My objective is to have the students learn the theories which support the creation of socially humane and sustainable building and community environments,” said Pontikis, who leads several graduate classes in CSUN’s interior design program. “Students undertake the design and creation of real community projects while employing the theoretical and building methodology they have learned through the curriculum.”

Among several service-learning class projects on their agenda was designing the landscaping layout for 11 Habitat for Humanity family homes, an experience that provided first-hand experience with a range of budgets, schedules, programs, engineers, contractors, craftspeople, building systems and materials, ornaments and color.

As the layouts were designed, Pontikis reinforced the idea of implementing sustainability, whose green design aspect focuses on technical elements necessary for construction, and whose humane factor centers on understanding the people and developing an environment that suits their needs.

More than 20 years of design experience throughout the U.S. and Europe have shaped Pontikis’ philosophy. “The more flexible and adaptable the building processes I employed, the more successful and alive my projects were,” he said. “Architects need to view buildings as living organisms which affect not only the natural environment but also the life, well-being and spirituality of people.”

In March, a newly established Habitat for Humanity chapter at CSUN was part of “Youth Build Day—Building with Celebrities,” joining the more than 300 volunteers who helped build the San Fernando Valley’s 100th Habitat home.

“It was amazing to see how many CSUN students, faculty and staff volunteered to make this event a success,” said graduate design student Kristine Tserunyan, who heads the new Habitat chapter “We had a great time, learned about construction and team work, and gave back to the community.”

Pontikis, said Tserunyan, was the chapter’s prime mover, helping recruit members and volunteering alongside of student members during the Youth Build event.

— -

---